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THE  PROFESSOR'S  SISTER. 


THE 

PROFESSOR'S  SISTER 

A    ROMANCE 

BY 

JULIAN  HAWTHORNE, 


AUTHOR    OF 
"A     DREAM    AXD    A    FORGETTING,"     "GARTH," 

"FORTUNE'S  FOOL,"  "JOHN  PARMELEE'S 
CURSE,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


BELFORD,  CLARKE  &  CO., 

CHICAGO,  NEW  YORK,  AXD  SAN  FRANCISCO, 

PUBLISHERS. 


COPYRIGHT,    1888, 
BY 

BELFORD,  CLARKE  &  CO. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR: 
A  DREAM   AND   A  FORGETTING. 

BELFORD,  CLARKE  &  CO., 
PUBLISHERS, 


THE 
PROFESSORS    SISTER. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MET  A  P  II  Y  S  1C  S. 

"  WHAT  is  memory,  I  should  like  to  know  ?  " 
said  Will  Burlace,  using  the  end  of  his  broad 
middle  finger  as  a  tobacco-stopper.  "  How  does 
it  work,  Ralph,  my  boy  ?  Do  we  remember 
everjrthing  in  our  experience,  as  some  philoso- 
phers hold,  or  does  each  of  us  take  out  of  the 
past  only  that  which  belongs  to  his  character 
and  temperament,  or  are  recollection  and  obliv- 
ion a  mere  lottery,  over  which  we  have  no  con- 
trol, or—" 

"  And  what  is  the  exact  difference  between 
memory  and  imagination  ?  "  I  broke  in.  "  We 
say  the  past  has  no  existence  :  neither  have 
the  conceptions  of  the  imagination.  And  I 
have  heard  of  people  imagining  things  until 
they  believed  them  true." 


8  The  Professor's  Sister. 

"  Yes,  why  not  ?  "  added  Burlace,  with  a  grin. 
"  We  are  taught  that  the  external  world  itself 
is  but  a  prejudice  of  the  mind.  There  is  no 
reality  but  thought  and  will.  Our  present  is  a 
dream  ;  our  past  and  future  are  the  ghosts  of 
dreams.  You  cannot  make  out  imagination  to 
be  anything  less  than  that.  We  talk  about 
the  creations  of  poets  and  novelists,  and  it  is 
notorious  that  many  of  the  personages  of  fiction 
from  Homer  to  Balzac,  live  with  a  vitality  that 
would  put  to  shame  Methuselah,  or  Augustus 
the  Strong.  Where  shall  we  draw  the  line  ?" 

"The  senses  originate  in  the  brain,"  con- 
tinued I :  "  don't  they  end  there  as  well  ?  we 
may  admit  that  we  feel  sensations,  but  how  do 
we  know  that  the  feeling  and  the  thing  felt  are 
not  two  visions  of  the  same  thing  ?  " 

"  Look  at  ghosts,  spectres,  and  the  supernat- 
ural generally,'7  said  Burlace,  blowing  a  cloud 
of  smoke  into  fantastic  shapes  and  waving  his 
big  hand  through  them.  "  What  is  the  dif- 
ference between  a  ghost  and  an  ordinary  human 
being?" 

"  As  a  general  rule,"  said  Ralph,  who  had 
been  sitting  meanwhile  on  his  back  and  shoul- 
ders, with  his  slippered  feet  broad  against  the 
tall  porcelain  stove  which,  as  everywhere  in 
Germany,  dominated  the  apartment,  "as  a 
general  rule,  the  difference  between  a  ghost 


The  Professor's  Sister.  9 

and  an  ordinary  human  being  is  this  : — only 
one  person  sees  the  ghost,  whereas  the  ordinary 
human  being  has  been,  is,  or  can  be  seen  by 
whomsoever  chooses  to  look  at  him.  And  a 
similar  distinction  might  be  drawn  as  between 
the  contents  of  the  memory  and  those  of  the 
imagination.  If  I  tell  you  an  incident  of  my 
past  life,  and  you  don't  believe  it,  I  can  adduce 
living  witnesses  in  support  of  my  statement : 
but  if  I  tell  you  a  story,  or  a  lie,  and  you  are 
incredulous,  I  can  only  keep  on  lying." 

"  I  would  confess  and  repent,  if  I  were  you," 
interposed  Burlace. 

"  What  is  that  theory  of  yours  about  appari- 
tions ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Oh,  it  would  take  me  too  far  back  to  explain 
that,"  answered  Ralph  lazily. 

"  It's  one  the  professor  told  him,  and  he's 
forgotten  it,"  Burlace  asserted,  winking  at  me 
across  the  table. 

"  The  professor  is  a  Buddhist,"  said  Ralph. 
"  For  my  part,  I  believe  neither  in  re-incarna- 
tion, Karma,  Devachan,  Nirvana,  nor  the 
Astral  light." 

Burlace  grinned  again.  "  Nor  in  anything 
else!" 

"  Yes,"  returned  Ralph,  in  the  same  lazy 
tone,  "  I  believe  in  God,  in  the  Divine  inspira- 
tion of  the  Bible,  in  the  Incarnation,  in  the  im- 


10  The  Professor's  Sister. 

mortality  of  the  soul,  and  in  the  possible  inter- 
course between  the  dead  and  the  living,  among 
other  things." 

"A  nice  creed  for  the  prize  student  of  a 
German  university !  But  I  suppose  you  are 
lying,  now." 

"  I  am  casting  my  pearls  before  Burlace, 
which  is  perhaps  as  bad." 

"Well,  to  begin  with,  what  is  matter  ?  " 

"Matter  is  the  attestation  of  the  constancy 
of  the  relation  between  the  Creator  and  the 
creature." 

"  Oh  !  and  what  is  nature  ?  " 

"Nature  is  the  analysis  of  human  nature, 
projected  on  the  sphere  of  sense  by  the  creative 
energy." 

"If  that  be  the  case,"  said  I,  "why  does  not 
the  face  of  nature  become'  modified  in  corre- 
spondence with  our  growth  and  development  ?  " 

"Well,"  returned  Ralph,  "doesn't  it?" 

"I  haven't  noticed  it  in  my  own  experience/' 
I  replied. 

"  You  would,  if  you  were  mankind.  And 
even  you  furnish  your  room  and  dig  your  gar- 
den in  accordance  with  your  notion  of  the  cor- 
rect thing.  But  the  great  geological  and 
cosmical  changes,  the  variation  and  extinction 
of  species,  alterations  of  climate,  and  all  matters 
of  that  calibre,  follow  and  reflect  the  develop- 


The  Professor's  Sister.  11 

ment  of  Humanity  with  a  big  II.  And,  by  the 
way,  that's  the  basis  of  what  you  call  my  theory 
of  apparitions/7 

"How  so?" 

"Oh,  don't  encourage  him  !  "  cried  Burlace. 

"  You  have  the  visible  object  on  one  side/' 
Ralph  said,  "  and  the  brain  on  the  other.  The 
eye  is  the  connecting  link.  The  light  reflected 
from  objects  reaches  the  brain  through  the  eye, 
and  the  brain  thereupon  translates  it  into  ideas 
of  things.  Such  is  the  accepted  doctrine.  But  in 
certain  moods  of  abstraction  and  concentration. 
You  are  hardly  conscious  of  the  external  world, 
and  the  images  of  the  mind  assume  a  correspond- 
ing substantiality.  If  now  a  disembodied  be- 
ing applies  itself  strongly  to  your  own  spirit, 
your  spiritual  organ  of  sight — which  is  the  eye 
within  the  eye — perceives  it  as  a — what  Burlace 
calls — ordinary  human  being." 

"  Oh,  my  wig  !  "  muttered  Burlace. 

'•  But  how  does  your  ontological'theory — " 

"  Why,  it's  simple  enough.  We  perceive  an 
ordinary  human  being  by  virtue  of  that  uni- 
versal human  constitution  that  we  share  with 
the  race ;  but  we  perceive  an  apparition  by 
virtue  of  a  special  and  finite  impression  wrought 
upon  us  by  an  unembodied  spirit.  The  action 
of  the  organ  of  vision  is  the  same  in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other  :  the  apparition  is,  to  the 


12  The  Professor's  Sister. 

person  seeing  it,  as  real  as  an  actual  man.  Yet 
it  is  not  real,  but  an  illusion,  because  it  is  an 
individual,  and  not  a  general  experience." 

"  But  an  apparition  is  a  spirit :  do  you  call 
a  spirit  an  illusion  ?  " 

"  An  apparition  is  not  a  spirit." 

"Neither,  certainly,  is  it  a  physical  being." 

"No  ;  it  is  the  reflection  upon  the  sphere  of 
sense  of  a  being  who  is  not  physical.  It  is  an 
illusion  in  the  same  way  that  your  reflection  in 
the  looking-glass  is  an  illusion, — it  is  nothing 
in  itself,  but  a  reality  causes  it." 

"  May  I  be  permitted  to  offer  one  suggestion 
in  the  premises  ?  "  inquired  Burlace. 

"  No,"  said  Ralph. 

"Well,  here  it  is.  Sense,  according  to  you, 
only  seems  to  convey  messages  from  without  : 
in  truth  it  is  concerned  solely  with  what  pro- 
ceeds from  within, — for  the  obvious  reason  that 
the  entire  material  universe  is  but  the  phenom- 
enal externization  of  the  elements  of  the 
human  mind — have  I  got  the  lingo  right  ?  " 

"Viewing  the  universe,  of  course,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  use,  not  of  form  and  exten- 
sion," supplemented  Ralph,  closing  his  eyes. 

"  Just  as  you  please  about  that  !  well,  now, 
your  apparition  is  visible  to  the  eye — or  to  the 
eye  within  the  eye,  if  you  like  that  better — say, 
to  the  sense  of  vision.  But  it  is  generally  ad- 


The  Professor's  Sister.  13 

mitted  that  all  our  senses  are  but  modifications 
of  one  sense,  to  wit,  the  sense  of  touch.  Are 
you  listening  ?  " 

"  No ;  because  I  knew  from  the  start  what 
you  were  driving  at." 

"  Oh,  indeed  !  and  pray  what  was  it  ?  " 

"  That  an  apparition  that  can  be  seen  ought, 
by  logical  inference,  to  be  also  an  object  of 
touch,  hearing,  smell  and  taste." 

"Well,  and  how  are  you  going  to  wriggle 
out  of  that  dilemma  ?  "  demanded  Burlace,  with 
a  snort. 

"  I  am  comfortable  where  I  am.  I  don't 
perceive  your  dilemma.  I  hold  your  inference 
to  be  unimpeachable." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  a  ghost  can  be 
handled—" 

"Heard,  smelt  and  tasted.  Certainly,  why 
not?" 

"And  yet  you  call  it  an  illusion  !" 

"But  with  a  reality  behind  it!  " 

"I  am  going  home,"  said  Burlace,  getting  up 
from  his  chair  with  a  grotesque  assumption  of 
decrepitude.  "  I  am  a  very  foolish,  fond  old 
man.  I  don't  catch  on  any  longer.  I  have 
been  getting  things  wrong  end  foremost  all 
these  years.  Matter,  it  seems,  is  but  the  attes- 
tation of  the  constancy  of  a  relation, — therefore 
I  ought  to  be  able  to  walk  through  a  block  of 


14  The  Professor's  Sister. 

houses,  or  pass  my  arm  through  a  girl's  waist 
instead  of  round  it.  Apparitions,on  the  contrary, 
can  be  felt  and  smelt  as  well  as  seen,  therefore 
I  presume  that  I  have  been  consorting  hitherto 
with  apparitions.  In  fact,  what  am  I  myself  but 
an  apparition — an  illusion  with  a  reality  behind 
me  ?  I  have  heard  of  people  being  made 
nervous  by  having  a  spectre  behind  them  ;  but 
fancy  the  condition  of  a  poor  spectre  with  a 
reality  behind  him  !  Let  me  get  away,  while 
reason  yet  holds  her  seat  in  this  distracted 
globe  ! " 

"  And  all  because  I  happened  to  remark  that 
memory  is  what  is  meant  by  the  creation  of 
man  male  and  female,"  said  Ralph,  with  a  sigh. 

"  Imbecility,  thy  name  is  metaphysics  !  w 
muttered  Burlace,  as  he  opened  the  door  and 
closed  it  behind  him  with  a  bang.  So  Ralph 
Merlin  and  I  were  left  alone  in  front  of  the  tall 
porcelain  stove. 

Those  delightful  old  student  days  in  Dresden, 
twenty  years  ago !  What  good  times  we  had  ! 
— not  because  of  jivhat  we  did,  but  because  we 
so  enjoyed  doing  it.  What  did  we  do,  in  fact  ? 
we  drank  beer  out  of  glass  schoppen  with  porce- 
lain covers  ;  we  smoked  pipes  and  Laferme 
cigarettes  ;  we  attended  open-air  concerts  in 
the  Grosser  Garten,  the  Bruehlshe  Terrace,  the 
Waldschlo2schen  5  we  fought  shlaeger  duels, 


The  Professor's  Sister.  15 

and  wore  high  boots,  black  velveteen  jackets, 
and  caps  four  inches  in  diameter ;  we  went  to 
masked  balls,  where  neither  we  nor  anybody  else 
behaved  quite  properly  ;  we  went  to  other 
dances  in  queer  places ;  we  thought  we  owned 
the  earth  and  the  fullness  thereof;  and  we 
talked  metaphysics.  There  is  nothing  to  com- 
pare with  the  zeal  with  which  young  men  of  a 
certain  age  and  intellectual  training  will  talk 
metaphysics.  They  know  all  that  Hegel,  Kant, 
Schopenhauer  and  Spinoza  knew,  and  demon- 
strate that  these  gentlemen  did  not  go  nearly 
far  nor  half  deep  enough,  and  were  much  too 
lucid  and  straightforward  in  all  their  statements. 
We  began  where  they  left  off,  and  stopped  no- 
where. We  dissolved  the  Universe,  arid  created 
it  again  each  after  a  recipe  of  his  own.  As  to  so- 
ciety— civilization — I  shudder  to  think  how  we 
objurgated  and  annihilated  them.  And  moral- 
ity !  Burlace  had  a  thermometer  in  his  room, 
which  he  used  to  call  The  Register  of  Virtue. 
It  was  a  huge  affair,  about  five  feet  long,  and 
I  believe  he  had  stolen  it  from  the  outside  of  a 
druggist's  shop.  Opposite  each  space  of  ten 
degrees  he  had  pasted  the  photograph  of  a 
woman.  Between  the  30th  and  40th  degrees 
she  was  muffled  up  from  her  chin  to  her  toes, 
and  wore  a  big  hood.  Between  the  40th  and 
50th  her  hood  was  off  and  her  pelisse  was  un- 


16  The  Professor's  Sister. 

buttoned.  Between  the  50th  and  60th  the 
pelisse  had  disappeared  and  you  could  discern 
the  outlines  of  her  figure.  The  70th  degree 
limit  showed  her  in  full  ball  costurae,  very  de'- 
colletee.  At  the  80th  her  costume  had  shrunk 
at  both  ends,  and  she  was  now  a  ballet  dancer, 
very  much  on  one  leg.  The  next  interval  was 
difficult  to  describe  ;  and  the  final  one  revealed 
Eve  pure  and  simple.  When,  therefore,  the 
conversation  turned  upon  moral  questions,  Bur- 
lace  would  point  to  this  new  Jacob's  Ladder  and 
say  :  "  The  whole  problem  is  settled  there,  gen- 
tlemen. I  make  no  comments  ;  none  are 
needed.  Let  each  man  of  you  select  the  lati- 
tude that  suits  him  best,  and  be  happy.  The 
equator  is  good  enough  for  me." 

Burlace  was  able,  obstinate,  boisterous  ;  a 
scoffer  and  a  sceptic.  He  had  a  broad  sense  of 
humor,  but  was  apt  to  become  oppressive.  His 
great,  strident  voice  ate  up  all  other  sounds,  and 
finally  made  one's  ears  indignant.  But  he  would 
standby  you  in  trouble,  and,  after  bullying  you 
to  your  face,  take  your  part  behind  your  back. 
He  and  Ralph  Merlin  and  I  were,  at  that  time, 
the  only  Americans  there  ;  so  we  were  a  good 
deal  together.  Ralph  and  Burlace  were  gen- 
erally chaffing  each  other  :  I  used  to  take  part, 
sometimes  against  one,  sometimes  against  the 
other.  But,  at  bottom,  Ralph  was  my  friend. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  17 

I  was  often  in  doubt  whether  to  take  him 
seriously  or  in  jest,  but  I  had  an  instinct  of 
affection  towards  him.  And  I  understood  better 
than  any  of  his  other  companions  the  moods  of 
his  mind  and  heart. 


18  The  Professor's  /Sister. 

CHAPTEE  II. 

RALPH  AND  HIS  QUEER  NOTIONS. 

RALPH  MERLIN  was,  I  believe,  of  Philadel- 
phia extraction.     His  family  had  been  wealthy 
for  several  generations,  and  that,  in  America, 
means  culture  and  high  breeding.     Ralph  was 
of  a  fine  patrician  type.     His  physical  organ- 
ization was    delicate   as   a  watch   spring,  but 
strong,    healthy,    and    unweariable.     He    and 
Burlace  (who  weighed  just  ninety  pounds  more 
than  Ralph   did)    had  a  wrestling  match  one 
day.     After  a  while,  Ralph  got  a  grip  on  Bur- 
lace  somehow,  and  began  slowly  to  bend  him 
over  backwards.     It  was  the  power  of  one  back- 
bone against  the  other.     Burlace,  who  prided 
himself  on  his  strength,  and  was  always  asking 
Us  to  feel  his  muscle,  tugged  and   struggled 
like  a  bull.     His  broad  visage  became  red,  his 
throat  swelled,  and  a  great  purple  vein  started 
out  in  his  forehead.     He   grinned   a   hideous 
grin,  showing  his  big  teeth  set  together.     All 
the  while  he  was   being  forced  over,   inch   by 
inch.     Ralph's  face  did  not  show  signs  of  the 
tremendous    exertion    he    must     have     been 
making;  only  his  eyes,   which   were  fixed  on 


The  Professor's  Sister.  19 

Burlace's,  seemed  to  grow  steadily  larger  and 
brighter;  and  his  slender  hands  gripped  those 
great,  brawny  muscles  of  Burlace's  as  a  steel 
vice  grips  green  wood.  At  last,  just  as  Bur- 
lace's eyes  rolled  up,  and  he  was  about  to  gasp 
and  collapse,  Ralph  suddenly  loosed  his  hold 
and  laughed,  Burlace  sat  down  on  the  floor, 
panting  and  perspiring.  "  You're  too  big  for 
me,"  said  Ralph  ;  and  a  thin  stream  of  blood 
ran  down  his  chin.  At  first  I  was  startled, 
thinking  he  had  ruptured  a  blood-vessel ;  but 
he  had  only  bitten  through  his  lower  lip. 
"  Well,"  grunted  "Will  Burlace,  as  soon  as  lie 
could  speak,  "  then  I  thank  my  stars  I'm  no 
smaller,  that's  all." 

Ralph  had  beautiful,  arched  feet,  and  there 
was  a  just  perceptible  arch  in  his  nose,  too; 
thin,  wide  nostrils,  broad,  straight  eyebrows, 
black,  over  gray  eyes,  black  wavy  hair,  fine 
white  complexion.  His  upper  lip  was  slender 
the  lower  full  curving  under  sharply,  to  a  round 
Roman  chin.  I  never  saw  a  more  thoroughly 
masculine  face;  and  his  deep  bass  voice 
suited  it. 

He  had  plainty  of  brains,  and  managed  them 
well.  He  had  graduated  at  Yale  college  when 
he  was  but  eighteen  years  old  ;  afterwards  he 
had  spend  three  years  at  Cambridge  in  England, 
and  now  he  was  taking  an  engineering  course 


20  The  Professor's  Sister. 

in  Germany.  He  might  have  lived  a  luxurious 
club  and  yacht  existence  if  he  had  cared  to. 
But  he  was  not  contented  with  his  inherited 
possessions ;  he  wanted  a  profession  too. 
Whether,  having  got  it,  he  would  ever  practice 
it,  was  another  question ;  but  there  was  no 
doubt  about  his  getting  it.  He  was  esteemed 
the  best  student  of  his  time.  Yet  he  had  not 
been  devoting  himself  exclusively  to  his  nominal 
pursuit,  by  any  means.  He  had  interested  him- 
self for  some  years  past  in  esoteric  philosophy 
and  religion ;  and  here  in  Dresden  he  had  met 
a  man  who  was  already  very  far  advanced  on 
the  road  Ralph  was  travelling. 

This  was  Professor  Conrad  Hertrugge.  The 
professor  was  then  about  thirty  years  old,  and 
by  no  means  a  general  favorite  with  his  classes. 
He  was  as  sharp  and  cold  as  an  ice-chisel,  in 
the  class-room.  There  was  a  strong  sarcastic 
vein  in  him,  which  he  was  apt  to  use  unmer- 
cifully ;  and  to  the  common  run  of  people  he 
was  so  curt  and  unsympathetic  that  they  found 
it  impossible  to  get  up  any  conversation  with 
him  ;  and  after  one  or  two  attempts,  they  were 
glad  to  give  him  a  wide  berth. 

He  was  a  pale,  meagre  man,  with  reddish 
hair,  a  sardonic  mouth,  and  strange  green  eyes, 
which  sometimes  had  red  sparkles  in  them.  But 
there  was  power  in  his  every  feature  and  gest- 


The  Professor's  Sister.  21 

ure, — the  power  of  character,  knowledge,  and 
purpose.  He  had  also  a  power  of  another  kind, 
rarer,  and  imperfectly  understood.  Whether 
the  result  of  organization,  special  training,  or 
both,  it  was  certainly  an  odd  and  mysterious 
faculty.  There  are  more  names  than  one 
for  it,  but  a  name  is  not  an  explanation.  For 
my  part,  I  have  never  been  sensible  of  the  influ- 
ence which  such  persons  are  undoubtedly  able 
to  exercise ;  but  I  have  seen  Conrad  Hertrugge 
do  what  I  can  only  describe  as  taking  a  man's 
will  and  consciousness  out  of  him,  and  put- 
ting his  own  in  its  place.  They  would  call  it, 
nowadays,  inhibition  of  the  cortical  centres  of 
the  brain.  There  is  no  objection,  that  I  know 
of,  to  that  way  of  accounting  for  it. 

The  Professor,  on  his  first  meeting  with 
Ralph,  seemed  to  conceive  a  pronounced  aver- 
sion to  him.  But  in  the  course  of  two  or  three 
months,  this  aversion  changed  to  a  very  inti- 
mate friendship.  I  never  knew  exactly  what 
caused  the  change,  but  I  have  always  surmis- 
ed that  Ralph  had  on  some  occasion,  and  in 
some  unobtrusive  but  effective  manner,  inti- 
mated his  incredulity  of  the  Professor's  occult 
abilities  ;  and  that  he  had  been  led,  subsequent- 
ly, to  recant  his  disbelief.  There  was  no 
doubt  that  he  would  have  made  his  recanta- 
tion freely  and  frankly,  when  he  was  once  con- 


22  The  Professor's  Sister. 

vinced ;  and  it  was  not  in  human  nature,  nor 
even  in  Conrad  Hertrugge,  to  resist  Ralph 
Merlin  when  he  wished  to  make  himself  agree- 
able. At  all  events,  as  I  say,  they  became 
close  friends,  and  were  a  great  deal  together ; 
and  since  both  were,  with  this  exception,  in- 
clined to  be  solitary,  their  intimacy  was  the 
more  conspicuous.  What  they  communed 
about  was  of  course  matter  of  conjecture  ;  but 
some  of  the  conjectures  were  well  enough  to 
have  got  the  pair  of  them  burned  for  witches 
two  hundred  years  ago. 

For  my  part,  I  was  an  old  comrade  01 
Ralph's,  having  known  him  before  he  went  to 
England ;  and  Ralph  admitted  to  me  that  he 
and  Conrad  were  investigating  certain  obscure 
subjects  together.  He  remarked,  however,  that 
he  did  not  agree  with  Conrad  as  to  the  gen- 
eral  scheme  of  things,  and  was  inclined  to  ex- 
plain certain  phenomena  on  another  basis  than 
his.  To  other  people — to  Will  Burlace  for  ex- 
ample— Ralph  took  pleasure  in  making  enig- 
matical replies^  which  might  mean  anything  or 
nothing,  and  which  left  them  in  doubt  whether 
he  were  poking  fun  at  them,  or  were  out  of  his 
head.  But  there  was  another  consideration 
involved  which  neither  I  nor  others  had  yet 
heard  of. 

When   Burlace   had   left    us  that    evening, 


The  Professor's  Sister.  23 

Ralph  and  I  sat  smoking,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  stove,  and  for  a  time  kept  silence. 

"  Do  }rou  know  why  Burlace  keeps  coming 
here  ?  "  enquired  Ralph,  at  length.  He  asked 
the  question,  not  as  one  seeking  information 
as  to  the  fact,  but  in  order  to  discover  whether 
my  idea  accorded  with  his  own. 

"Well,  we  are  all  three  Americans,  you 
know,"  I  said. 

"  Yes.  But  Burlace  wants  to  have  a  definite 
opinion  011  all  subjects.  He  can't  endure  un- 
certainty, and  he  is  still  uncertain  whether  I  am 
a  knave  or  a  fool.  When  he  has  made  up  his 
mind  about  that,  you  won't  see  him  here  again." 

"  Whether  you  are  a  knave  or  a  fool  ?  " 

"  In  other  words,  whether  I  really  believe 
in  the  mysteries  of  the  soul,  or  only  pretend  to 
do  so  for  ends  of  my  own.  In  the  former  case 
I  am  a  fool,  in  the  latter,  a  knave.  I  made 
some  progress  to-night  in  recommending  to 
him  the  latter  alternative." 

"You  imply  that  he  is  incapable  of  believing 
in  the  soul  himself." 

"Yes;  that  is  one  of  the  points  on  which 
his  mind  is  made  up." 

"  Why  don't  you,  or  the  Professor,  convert 
him  ?  » 

"  He  hasn't  the  temperament,  for  one  thing. 
He  can  be  useful  in  his  own  place  and  way  ; 


24  The  Professor's  Sister. 

as  a  mystic,  he  would  be  a  nuisance  to  himself 
and  others.'7 

"  What  sort  of  a  mystic  would  I  make  ?  " 

"  I  have  asked  myself  that  question,  and  so 
has  Conrad." 

«  Well  ?  » 

"  Well,  to  be  an  initiate,  one  must  have 
initiative.  You  are  too  lazy.  You  are  appre- 
ciative, and  quick  of  apprehension  ;  you  will 
listen  to  all  that  is  told  you,  understand  it,  and 
even  believe  it,  if  it  accords  with  your  view  of 
the  reasonable.  But  you  would  stop  there. 
You  would  never  take  any  action  upon  the  in- 
formation. By  and  by  it  would  fade  out  of 
your  mind.  However  much  you  might  be  a 
spiritualist  in  theory,  in  practice  you  will 
always  be  a  materialist ;  and  the  olde*  you  grow, 
the  more  will  that  be  the  case." 

"After  all,  Ralph,  is  there  anything  in  it  ? 
Granting  occultism  all  it  claims,  will  it  ever 
produce  any  effect  in  this  world  ?  Can  you 
get  further  than  to  affect  the  imagination  and 
the  nerves  ?  Supposing  you  possess  the  secret 
of  the  universe,  can  you  avail  yourself  of  it  to 
benefit  or  influence  practical  men  ?  Or  do  these 
magical  powers  (if  there  be  any)  afford  any- 
thing except  subjective  entertainment  to  the 
wielders  of  them  and  curiosity  and  mystification 
to  outsiders  ?  " 


The  Professor's  Sister.  25 

"  You  have  seen  something  of  what  Conrad 
can  do." 

"  I  have  seen  him  put  a  man  to  sleep,  arid 
then  compel  him  to  act  out  his  dreams.  But,  at 
most,  that  will  simply  enable  some  men  to  make 
cats'-paws  of  some  others.  And  that  has  been 
done,  without  magic,  since  the  world  began." 

"  Magic  means  the  production  of  something 
out  of  nothing,"  replied  Ralph :  "  and  that,  of 
course,  is  an  absurdity,  because  ex  nihilo  nihil 
Jit.  No  man  can  create  anything,  because  he 
has  nothing  of  his  own  to  create  it  out  of.  He 
can  produce  an  illusion,  and  that  is  all.  The 
illusion  is  temporary,  often  momentary  ;  and 
as  it  seems  out  of  reason,  the  effect  on  the 
mind  is  also  transient.  The  power  of  reading 
and  imparting  thoughts,  without  the  aid  of  the 
senses,  and  of  communicating  impressions  at 
a  distance,  is  curious  and  striking  ;  but  the 
electric  telegraph,  in  the  development  it  will 
presently  receive,  will  accomplish  the  same 
results  more  certainly  and  regularly.  My 
belief  is  that  you  can  allow  the  adepts  all 
that  they  claim  of  control  over  the  forces  of 
Naturej  and  yet  match  them,  either  now  or 
hereafter,  with  the  matter-of-fact  resources  of 
science.  I  have  no  doubt  that  science  will  not 
only  enable  us  to  travel  all  over  this  earth, 
and  converse  with  its  inhabitants,  while  sit- 


26  The  Professor's  Sister. 

ting  at  home  in  our  easy  chairs,  but  to  visit 
planets,  and  hold  intercourse  with  other 
varieties  of  mankind,  in  the  same  way.  But 
all  that,  and  a  great  deal  more  of  the  same 
sort,  is  simply  an  advanced  materialism,  in 
which  I  am  but  moderately  interested." 

"  It  is  intercourse  with  spirits  that  attracts 

you,  ?  » 

"  Why  should  it  ?  " 

"  Do  you  believe,  then,  that  so  called  spiri- 
tual communications  are  merely  the  effects  of 
unconscious  cerebration  and  telepathy,  and  of 
a  sort  of  electric  or  magnetic  force  contained 
in  the  human  body  ?  " 

"Well,  I  don't  know  why  we  should  trouble 
ourselves  to  invent  so  many  handsome  names 
for  a  very  obvious  fact.  If  you  believe  you 
have  a  soul — a  spirit — the  rest  follows  of  course. 
Your  spirit  is  in  a  certain  temporary  phase  or 
plane,  which  we  call  the  material.  But  it  is 
also  in  the  spiritual  world,  though  not  con- 
sciously so.  And  in  that  world  it  must  neces- 
sarily be  surrounded  by  a  multitude  of  spirits 
most  similar  in  character  and  genius  to  itself. 
But  your  spirit,  owing  to  your  being  in  a  dif- 
ferent plane  of  being,  is  as  imperceptible  to  them 
as  they  are  to  you." 

"Do  you  mean  that  there  can  be  no  inter- 
course ?  " 


The  Professor's  Sister.  27 

"  There  is  constant  and  universal  uncon- 
scious intercourse." 

"  If  it  be  unconscious,  how  can  you  assert 
that  it  exists  ?  " 

"You  may  know  it  by  the  anology  of  ordi- 
nary human  intercourse  on  this  material 
plane." 

"How  so?" 

"  Men  are  only  partly  conscious  of  one  an- 
other here.  I  see  your  body  and  your  house, 
I  hear  your  words  and  mark  your  actions.  But 
what  do  I  know  of  your  nature,  your  thoughts, 
your  emotions  ?  I  guess  at  them,  from  such 
data  as  I  have,  and  such  inferences  as  I  have 
skill  to  draw.  But  you  and  I  may  go  through 
life  within  arm's  reach  of  each  other,  and  yet 
never  once  penetrate  beyond  the  veil  of  each 
other's  faces, — never  know  each  other,  as  the 
phrase  is.  All  that  each  of  us  secretly  feels  to 
be  himself  is  invisible  and  often  unsuspected 
by  the  other.  But  the  part  of  us  (and  it  is  the 
larger  and  more  important  part)  that  is  invis- 
ible here,  is  visible  in  the  spiritual  world.  There, 
our  thoughts  and  nature — our  mental  scenery 
— appear  as  things.  All  that  makes  us  what 
we  are  is  seen  there  ;  only  the  personal  form 
that  we  identify  with  ourselves  is  absent, — 
living  in  a  foreign  country.  And  that  spiritual 
domain  of  ours  is  continually  visited  and  ex- 


28  The  Professor's  Sister. 

amined  by  such  spirits  as  are  of  similar  mould 
.and  inclinations  with  our  own.  They  are  of  both 
good  and  evil  quality,  for  there  is  good  and 
evil  in  every  man  ;  and  according  as  we  turn 
ourselves  to  good  or  to  evil,  is  the  complexion 
of  our  spiritual  guests  dark  or  light." 

This  theory,  which  Kalph  stated  with  un- 
usual gravity  and  earnestness,  struck  me  as 
being  rather  bold,  to  say  the  least  of  it ;  and 
yet  I  could  not  deny  that  it  seemed  in  keeping 
with  what  we  know  of  the  laws  of  spiritual 
harmony  and  association.  I  had  never  before 
heard  Ealph  talk  in  this  way. 

"  If  there  is  such  a  barrier  as  you  suppose 
between  the  material  and  the  physical  planes," 
I  said,  "and  the  intercourse  is  unconscious 
on  both  sides,  how  do  you  account  for  the 
phenomena  of  spiritualism  ?  " 

"  The  barrier  is  broken  down  from  our  side," 
Ralph  answered. 

"  By  what  means  ?  " 

"  If  I  want  you  to  know  a  thought  that  is 
in  my  mind,  I  make  certain  audible  sounds,  or 
draw  certain  visible  signs,  which,  by  common 
agreement,  shall  convey  that  thought  to  you. 
Speech  is  a  symbol,  by  which  we  bridge  over 
the  gulf  between  the  world  of  the  mind  and 
that  of  the  body.  In  a  similar  way — by  a 
system  of  symbols — we  converse  with  spirits." 


The  Professor's  Sister.  29 

'•'But  spirits  cannot  hear  our  voices,  nor  we 
theirs." 

"  Symbols  are  queer  things/'  returned  Ralph ; 
"  and  ail  spells  are  symbols.  If  you  hear  a 
spoken  word,  it  arouses  the  corresponding 
thought  in  your  mind.  The  things  that  we 
do  in  the  flesh  produce  effects  in  the  spiritual 
world  ;  and  certain  things,  done  with  a  certain 
purpose,  draw  tho  spirits  that  are  nearest  to 
us  into  direct  contact  with  our  plane.  They 
are  sensible  of  an  attraction — an  invitation — 
and  they  comply  with  it.  In  so  doing,  they 
necessarily  color  themselves  with  our  per- 
sonality, and  can  use  only  the  contents  of  our 
memory,  though  so  combining  them  as  to  pro- 
duce effects  of  novelty  and  surprise.  That  is 
the  ground  of  the  "  unconscious  cerebration  " 
theory.  But  what  is  it  that  causes  the  brain 
to  cerebrate  unconsciously  ?  It  is  not  our 
initiative;  then  it  must  be  some  other;  and 
that  other  can  only  be  the  spirit's." 

"  If  you  really  believe  you  can  communicate 
with  spirits,  I  can't  understand  your  not  feeling 
interested  in  it." 

"  The  interest  is  limited  to  the  fact  of  the 
communication ;  when  that  has  been  experi- 
enced, there  is  nothing  else  to  come.  No  spirit 
can  tell  us  anything  that  we  did  not  know,  or 
had  not  the  means  of  knowing,  without  him. 


30  The  Professor's  Sister. 

And  the  society  of  such  spirits  as  can  com- 
municate with  us  is  distinctly  detrimental. 
They  are  of  the  lowest  and  crudest  class  ;  they 
have  not  found  their  place  in  their  own  world, 
and  are  therefore  still  lingering  about  the 
confines  of  this, — like  stray  dogs  round  the 
door  of  a  butcher's  shop.  They  will  say 
whatever  they  think  you  expect  them  to  say, 
in  order  to  get  into  still  closer  terrestrial  rela- 
tions, and  consequently  they  will  lie  indefinitely. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  imagination  of  ignorant 
and  superstitious  people  is  excited  by  the  idea 
of  communion  with  the  other  world,  and  they 
conceive  all  manner  of  wild  and  vapid  theories, 
every  one  of  which  is  promptly  confirmed  by 
the  equally  foolish  and  unprincipled  spirits. 
Both  parties  to  the  dialogue  grow  worse  and 
worse  as  time  goes  on ;  so  that  it's  no  wonder 
that  the  affair  generally  ends,  on  our  side,  with 
insanity,  murder,  or  suicide.  What  is  there 
to  interest  a  reasonable  person  in  all  that  ?  " 

"But  why  should  not  spirits  of  a  higher 
order  come  to  us  sometimes  ?  Are  there  no 
angels  to  tell  us  (he  truths  of  heaven  and  teach 
us  divine  wisdom  and  goodness  ;  " 

"  There  are  angels,  no  doubt,"  said  Ealph  ; 
"but  there  is  no  ground  for  supposing  that 
they  ever  come  here.  Their  state  must  be  so 
entirely  different  from  ours  that  mutual  ap- 


The  Professor's  Sister.  31 

proach  would  be  impossible.  Besides,  the  only 
spiritual  instruction  that  is  worth  anything, 
and  whose  effects  are  lasting,  must  come  from 
our  own  consciences,  and  that  means  that  it 
comes  direct  from  God,  who  created  us  and  the 
angels  too.  No  third  person  can  ever  mediate 
between  Him  and  any  of  His  creatures.  His 
aim  is  not  to  bull}'-  us  by  signs  and  wonders, 
but  to  induce  us  to  find  our  own  way,  and  help 
ourselves.  If  you  act  under  constraint,  it  is 
not  you,  but  your  constrainer,  who  acts." 

"  Then,  if  there's  nothing  worth  attention  in 
these  things,"  said  I,  "  why  do  you  concern 
yourself  about  them  at  all  ?  " 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  am  just  beginning  to 
perceive  that  there  is  something  worth  atten- 
tion— and  very  much  worth  it,  too  !  Though 
the  spirits  can  tell  us  nothing  about  the  next 
world,  it  is  in  our  power  to  find  out  a  great 
deal  about  it  for  ourselves.  If  Conrad  were 
not  so  confirmed  a  Buddhist,  we  might  go  far 
together." 

"  He  doesn't  agree  with  you  ?  " 

"  Buddhists  are  all  materialists  at  bottom ; 
what  they  call  spirit  is  but  a  refined  form  of 
matter.  His  results  are  sensational,  and  have 
a  fascination  of  their  own.  But  I'm  afraid 
they  will  get  him  into  trouble  yet.  Life  is  a 
great  deal  simpler,  as  well  as  a  great  deal  pro- 


32  The  Professor's  Sister. 

founder,  than  he  thinks.  He  could  easily  do  a 
great  deal  of  harm ;  I  doubt  if  he  could  do 
much  good.  He  has  a  fancy  that  he  and  I  are 
involved  together  in  some  way.  I  must  say  I 
hope  he's  mistaken.  By  the  way,  you  haven't 
seen  his  step-mother,  have  you  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  know  he  had  one." 

"  Well,  he  has,  and  she's  a  very  handsome 
young  woman.  She  can't  be  over  five-and- 
twenty.  Conrad's  father  was  near  seventy 
when  he  married  her,  and  died  six  months  ago, 
after  a  year  of  felicity — if  felicity  it  was." 

"  Do  she  and  Conrad  get  on  well  together  ?  " 

"I  don't  believe  they  do.  There  is  some 
question  of  property,  I  think.  Conrad's  sister 
is  in  the  step-mother's  way,  and — " 

"He  has  a  sister,  too?" 

"A  girl  of  nineteen  or  so.  I  have  never 
seen  her — but,  by  the  way,  she  was  to  have 
come  home  yesterday,  and  Conrad  asked  me  to 
come  to  his  house  this  evening.  Let  us  go  and 
have  a  look  at  the  young  lady — the  two  young 
ladies.  It  is  pnly  half-past  eight,  and  we  can 
dress  and  be  there  by  nine." 

"  By  all  means,"  said  I.     And  we  went. 


The  Professor's  /Sister.  33 

CHAPTER  III. 

TWO    WOMEN. 

PROFESSOR  CONRAD  HERTRUGGE  occupied  a 
handsome  etage  on  a  street  adjoining  the  pub- 
lic garden.  His  father  had  been  a  merchant, 
and  had  accumulated  a  great  deal  of  money. 
But  having  begun  life  poor,  and  never  having 
had  time  to  amuse  himself,  he  had  not  acquired 
the  habit  of  luxury,  and  his  house,  until  the 
time  of  his  second  marriage,  had  been  as  bare 
as  a  barn, — so  Kalph  told  me.  But  his  new 
wife  had  changed  all  that.  She  was  handsome 
and  ambitious,  and  demanded  a  suitable  envi- 
ronment. The  old  man  yielded  to  all  her  sug- 
gestions and  paid  all  the  bills.  Her  taste  was 
ornate,  but  not  very  pure.  The  great  rooms 
were  filled  with  color  and  decoration.  Nothing 
was  left  untouched.  It  was  a  restless,  almost 
intimidating  spectacle.  The  eye  roved  from 
one  glowing  hue  and  glittering  point  to  an- 
other, without  repose.  It  seemed  hardly  law- 
ful to  sit  down  on  these  satins  and  velvets. 
The  polished  floor  menaced  the  incautious  foot ; 
the  tables  were  inlaid ;  in  the  midst  of  it  all 
you  kept  catching  glimpses  of  your  own  morti- 


34  The  Professor's  Sister. 

fied  countenance  in  plate-glass  mirrors.  I  like 
comfort  and  hate  this  sort  of  thing,  and  felt  a 
brutal  longing  to  spit  on  the  floor  and  put  my 
feet  on  the  buhl  and  marqueterie.  As  for  fine 
art,  there  were  clever  nude  statuettes  by  French 
sculptors,  and  paintings  of  warm  Venuses,  and 
I  know  not  what  else ;  and,  in  the  most  con- 
spicuous part  of  the  drawing-room,  a  really  fine 
full-length  portrait  of  Madame  Hertrugge  her- 
self. She  stood  facing  you,  in  the  act  of  re- 
moving a  voluminous  cloak  lined  with  swans- 
down  from  her  white,  superb  shoulders.  She 
was  represented  in  full  evening  dress, — red 
satin.  It  was  a  good  likeness:  almost  too 
good.  It  might  make  a  sensitive  person  blush. 
Madame  Hertrugge  was  white,  red  and  black. 
Her  skin  was  white,  her  cheeks  and  lips  red, 
her  hair,  eyes  and  eyebrows  black.  Her  mouth 
was  beautifully  formed,  and  firm,  with  a  firm 
chin.  Her  eyes  were  rather  full,  imperious  and 
ardent.  She  was  overflowing  with  vitality. 
The  hand  which  she  extended  to  one  in  greet- 
ing was  soft  but  strong,  with  long  fingers. 
She  was  dressed  in  black,  as  became  her  recent 
widowhood ;  but  she  had  not  the  air  of  mourn- 
ing much.  She  was  sensuous,  voluptuous,  but 
there  was  strength  behind  the  voluptuousness. 
You  received  from  her  a  powerful  impression 
of  sex.  Every  line  of  her,  every  movement, 


The  Professor's  Sister.  35 

every  look,  was  woman.  And  she  made  you 
feel  that  she  valued  you  just  so  far  as  you  were 
man,  You  might  be  as  nearly  Caliban  as  a 
man  can  be,  but  if  you  were  a  man  she  would 
consider  you.  You  might  court  her  success- 
fully with  a  horsewhip,  but  if  she  felt  the  mas- 
ter in  you,  and  were  convinced  that  you  were 
captivated  by  her,  she  would  accept  you.  It 
was  ludicrous  to  think  of  the  senile  old  mer- 
chant having  married  such  a  creature.  In 
fact,  marriage,  viewed  in  connection  with  this 
woman,  seemed  an  absurdity.  There  was  noth- 
ing holy  about  her,  nothing  reserved,  nothing 
sacred.  I  don't  mean  that  she  was  not  lady- 
like, as  the  phrase  is.  She  knew  the  society 
catechism,  and  practiced  it  to  a  nicety,  but  like 
a  clever  actress,  rather  than  by  instinct  or  sym- 
pathy. It  was  obvious  that  she  didn't  value 
respectability  and  propriety  the  snap  of  her 
white  fingers,  save  as  a  means  to  an  end ;  and 
if  she  were  in  the  company  of  one  whom  she 
trusted  intimately,  she  would  laugh  those  pop- 
ular virtues  to  scorn  with  her  warm,  insolent 
breath.  As  it  was,  all  the  forms  and  ceremo- 
nies in  the  world  could  not  disguise  her.  Her 
very  dress  suggested  rather  than  concealed 
what  was  beneath  it.  She  was  a  naked  god- 
dess— a  pagan  goddess — and  there  was  no  help 
for  it.  She  made  you  realize  how  powerless 


36  The  Professor's  Sister. 

our  nice  institutions  are  in  the  presence  of  a 
genuine,  rank  human  temperament. 

And  be  it  observed  that  I  am  here  writing 
of  her  as  a  temperament,  and  nothing  more.  I 
knew  nothing  of  her  former  life  and  experience. 
I  had  no  reason  to  think  that  her  conduct  had 
ever  been  less  than  unexceptionable.  But  the 
facts  about  her  were  insignificant  compared 
with  her  latent  possibilities.  Circumstances 
might  hitherto  have  been  adverse  to  her  develop- 
ment :  but  opportunity — rosy,  golden,  audacious 
opportunity  was  all  she  needed.  She  certainly 
bore  no  signs  of  satiety ;  she  had  nothing  of 
the  blase  air.  She  was  thirsty  for  life,  and 
she  would  appreciate  every  draught  of  it.  She 
was  impatient  to  begin.  And,  contemplating 
her  abounding,  triumphant,  delicious  well- 
being,  it  seemed  as  if  she  might  maintain  the 
high-tide  of  enjoyment  until  she  was  a  hun- 
dred. It  really  inclined  one  to  paganism  to 
look  at  her.  What  is  all  this  gossip  about 
morality  and  the  convenances!  I  thought  of 
Will  Burlace  and  his  thermometer.  Here  is  a 
woman  ;  here  is  human  nature  as  it  came  tor- 
rid from  the  creative  hand.  What  else  in  the 
world  can  stand  a  moment's  comparison  with 
it  ?  What  a  race  of  cold-blooded  pigmies  are 
we  become  !  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  and  not 
die,  either  to-morrow  or  the  day  after.  I  am  a 


The  Professors  Sister.  37 

temperate  man,  but  she  made  me  feel  as  if  I 
had  suddenly  drunk  a  bottle  of  fine  old  Ma- 
deira. 

But,  as  I  say,  her  behavior  was  unexception- 
able. She  shook  hands  with  me  in  the  quiet- 
est and  most  undemonstrative  way,  and  asked 
me  politely  how  I  liked  Dresden,  and  whether 
I  expected  to  make  a  long  stay.  Then  she 
turned  and  spoke  briefly  to  Ralph,  and  we  all 
sat  down  on  the  satin  and  velvet.  She  was  be- 
tween Ralph  and  me  ;  but  I  was  directly  op- 
posite the  portrait,  and  the  glance  it  gave  me 
whenever  I  happened  to  look  at  it,  did  not  har- 
monize with  the  kind  of  remarks  (about  the 
weather,  the  opera,  and  so  forth)  that  the  orig- 
inal of  it  was  making.  On  the  other  hand,  al- 
though the  remarks  were  out  of  character,  the 
tones  of  the  rich,  full  voice  were  in  keeping ; 
and  I  listened  to  them,  while  replying  to  the 
words. 

"  Where  is  Conrad  ?  "  asked  Ralph,  after  a 
while. 

"Oh,"  she  said,  "he's  in  his  study,  with 
Hildegarde.  Hildegarde  is  my  daughter,  you 
know,"  she  added  to  me  ;  "though  really  there 
is  not  such  a  very  great  difference  between  us, 
in  point  of  years,"  and  she  smiled.  "  She  and 
her  brother  have  not  met  for  a  long  time,  and 
apparently  they  have  a  great  deal  to  say  to 


38  The  Professor's  Sister. 

each  other.     But  they  will  be  in  in  a  few  min  • 
utes." 

"Miss  Hertrugge  has  been  living  away  from 
Dresden  ?  "  I  said. 

"  She  has  been  educated  at  a  convent,"  re- 
turned the  widow.  "  She  has  just  completed 
her  course,  and  will  henceforth  live  with  us. 
She  is  very  charming — I  am  sure  you  will  like 
her,"  she  added,  letting  her  black  eyes  rest  on 
me. 

Somehow  I  did  not  feel  complimented.  The 
look  was  an  appraising  one.  It  seemed  to  say, 
"  Hildegarde  would  suit  a  person  of  your  cal- 
ibre well  enough ;  as  for  me,  I  must  have 
stronger  meat ! " 

Indeed,  I  was  inclined  to  agree  with  her. 
Merely  to  contemplate  her  was  stimulus  enough 
for  me.  I  was  content  to  let  some  more  robust 
nature  proceed  further. 

"She  will  make  it  less  dull  for  you  this 
spring,"  remarked  Ralph  ;  and  he  added,  with 
the  quiet  audacity  which  he  occasionally  ex- 
hibited, "  Mourning  is  a  tedious  business.  One 
chief  reason  for  wishing  to  keep  some  of  our 
friends  alive,  is  the  dread  of  mourning  them 
after  they  are  dead." 

"  Too  much  importance  is  given  to  the  out- 
ward show,  perhaps,"  said  Madame  Hertrugge, 
after  a  moment. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  39 

«  No  doubt  of  it,"  said  Ralph.  "  It  is  like 
most  other  social  canons ;  the  fact  that  you  are 
expected  to  comply  with  it  makes  you  resent  it. 
The  way  the  social  law  puts  its  great  bullying 
finger  into  our  most  sacred  concerns  is  indecent. 
Birth,  death,  marriage, — it  is  the  same  in  every- 
thing. We  cannot  even  experience  religion 
except  in  public,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  batch  of 
priests.  The  aim  of  society  seems  to  be  to 
turn  its  members  inside  out :  and  the  more 
it  succeeds,  the  greater  hypocrites  do  we  all  be- 
come." 

"  That  sounds  like  a  paradox,  Mr.  Merlin," 
said  our  hostess. 

"  It  is  the  natural  revolt  of  human  nature 
against  force.  Society  insists  on  regulating 
our  behavior  by  averages  ;  we  demand  indi- 
vidual choice.  Society  being  the  stronger,  we 
adjust  the  matter  by  obeying  the  letter  and  re- 
belling in  the  spirit.  It  is  our  only  way  of 
keeping  the  ownership  of  our  own  souls." 

"  That,"  observed  I,  "  is  as  much  as  to  advo- 
cate hypocrisy." 

l-  Resistance  to  tyrants  is  obedience  to  God, 
— have  you  riot  that  proverb  ?  "  said  Madame 
Hertrugge,  taking  Ralph's  part  against  me. 
"  Yes,  you  are  right,'''  she  went  on,  "  we  are  all 
something  that  we  try  not  to  appear  to  be.  But 
I  can  at  least  say  for  myself  that  I  do  not  en- 


40  The  Professor's  Sister. 

joy  being  a  hypocrite.  It  stifles  me  :  I  am 
tempted  to  throw  off  the  disguise."  She  made  a 
gesture  with  her  beautiful  arm, — a  gesture  that 
quickened  my  pulse  a  beat  or  two.  Her  gest- 
ures, like  everything  about  her,  were  graphic 
and  vividly  suggestive.  If  she  were  really  to 
throw  off  the  disguise,  it  would  be  a  memorable 
sight. 

At  this  juncture,  Conrad  came  in,  with  his 
sister  Hildegarde's  hand  ill  his. 

The  two  stood  together  in  the  doorway  a 
moment.  There  was  very  little  family  resem- 
blance between  them,  except  that  Hildegarde's 
hair  was  tawny.  Her  eyes,  as  I  judged,  were 
hazel ;  they  were  large  and  exquisitely  expres- 
sive. All  her  features  were  delicately  moulded, 
and  evinced  great  sensitiveness.  Withal,  there 
was  a  certain  abstraction  in  her  manner.  It 
struck  me  that  she  would  be  keenly  aware  of 
all  that  passed  before  her,  yet  less  through  the 
ordinary  channels  of  perception  than  by  some 
sixth  sense, — some  instinctive  apprehension. 
It  acted  from  the  depths  within  her,  and  pene- 
trated to  depths,  ordinarily  concealed,  within 
others.  She  would  note  the  false  tone  of  a 
voi  ce,  and  see  through  an  assumed  geniality. 
If  you  loved  her,  she  would  know  it  in  spite  of 
your  best  concealments ;  if  you  were  hostile, 
she  would  feel  it  through  your  sultriest  com- 


The  Professors  Sister.  41 

placency.  And,  as  I  afterwards  found  by  ex- 
perience, she  often  divined  the  unspoken 
thought  of  her  interlocutor,  and  would  even,  at 
times,  inadvertently  reply  to  that,  instead  of 
to  what  had  actually  been  said. 

She  was,  compared  with  her  step-mother,  as 
spirit  to  substance,  and  as  light  to  heat.  Her 
complexion  was  fair  and  pure ;  her  figure  was 
slenderly  symmetrical,  and  charming  with  un- 
studied grace.  There  was  something  strange 
about  her  which,  at  first,  I  did  not  understand  ; 
but  at  length  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it 
was  her  almost  total  lack  of  self-consciousness. 
This  girl  had  no  egotism.  Her  observations, 
her  reflections,  her  thoughts,  were  of  people  and 
things  outside  herself.  This,  as  is  always  the 
case,  would  give  her  singular  power  in  emer- 
gencies. She  would  never  say,  "  What  will  be 
the  consequence  of  this  or  that  to  me  ?  "  She 
would  consider  only  the  abstract  result.  Yet 
she  would  reverence  noble  qualities,  and  good- 
ness, in  herself,  not  less  than  in  others  ;  not 
because  they  were  hers,  but  precisely  because 
she,  in  comparison  with  them,  was  nothing ; 
they  would  not  be  her  goodness  and  ability, 
but  goodness  and  ability  themselves.  These 
gone  she  would  be  no  complying  slave,  but  as 
stubborn  at  need  as  a  martyr.  You  can  defeat 
a  person  who  says  "I  will  have  it  so,"  but  the 


42  The  Professor's  Sister. 

world  cannot   influence  one   who  says  "  Eight 
will  have  it  so." 

But  my  observations  upon  Hildegarde  did 
not  proceed  so  far  on  this  first  evening.  She 
bowed  to  Ralph  and  to  me,  with  a  pleasant, 
clear  look,  as  her  step-mother  mentioned  our 
names.  In  a  few  minutes,  I  was  conversing 
with  her  and  Conrad,  while  Madame  Hertrugge 
in  another  part  of  the  room,  was  talking  to 
Ralph.  But  both  Ralph  and  Hildegarde  were 
inattentive,  and  I  saw  each  of  them  look  at  the 
other  once  or  twice. 

"Do  you  remember  your  own  mother?"  I 
asked  her. 

"Oh,  I  can  see  her,"  she  replied,  turning, 
and  lifting  her  head  a  little. 

"  Memory,  with  some  people,  is  almost  like 
vision,"  Conrad  added  quickly. 

"  This  is  a  great  change  from  the  convent," 
said  I. 

"  I  like  it !  "  she  returned,  with  a  simplicity 
that  made  me  smile. 

"  She  and  Catalina  will  be  great  friends," 
remarked  Conrad. 

"  Why,  do  you  not  wish  it,  brother  ?  "  de- 
manded the  girl. 

"I  forgot  your  eyes!"  he  rejoined,  with  an 
odd  gleam  in  his  own,  and  a  comical  twist  of 
his  sardonic  mouth.  He  certainly  had  not  in- 


The  Professor's  tiister.  43 

timated  that  he  did  not  wish  it.  "She  has 
more  of  her  mother  than  of  her  father/7  he 
said  to  me.  "  My  father  was  almost  as  ugly  as 
I  am,  and  clever, — a  good  brain.  But  an  ugly 
man  ought  to  be  strong,  and  there  he  was  lack- 
ing. A  woman  could  make  a  fool  of  him." 

While  he  was  speaking,  Hildegarde  rose,  and 
crossed  the  room  to  where  Ralph  and  Catalina 
Hertrugge  were  sitting.  It  was  a  point-blank 
interruption  of  a  tete-a-tete  that  had  seemed  to 
be  interesting  to  at  least  one  of  the  parties  to 
it.  If  one  has  the  nerve>  or  the  assurance,  to 
go  straight  to  the  point  in  society,  such  a  one 
will  leave  the  subtlest  schemer  far  behind.  I 
did  not  know  whether  Hildegarde's  manoeuvre 
was  more  than  an  accident ;  but  it  evidently 
disconcerted  the  other  lady.  Hildegarde  stood 
looking  calmly  at  Ralph,  and  not  offering  to 
say  anything.  Catalina,  cut  short  in  what  she 
was  saying,  must  have  felt  annoyed  ;  but  she 
laughed,  and  motioned  to  the  other  to  take  a 
place  beside  her  on  the  lounge.  Ralph  had 
meanwhile  risen  and  drawn  up  another  chair, 
and  this  Hildegarde  accepted,  reptying,  at  the 
same  time,  to  something  Ralph  said  to  her.  In 
a  moment  Catalina  exclaimed  :  "  But  we  are 
forgetting  our  tea !"  and  moving  to  the  em- 
broidered bell-rope,  pulled  it.  Then  she  saun- 
tered on,  with  that  undulating  movement  of  the 


44  The  Professor's  Sister. 

hips  which  is  so  beautiful  and  so  rare  in  wo- 
men, showing,  as  it  does,  perfect  suppleness 
and  freedom  of  the  waist  and  limbs, — she  came 
on  I  say,  towards  Conrad  and  me,  and  sank 
into  a  seat  near  us,  the  train  of  her  dress  coil- 
ing over  her  arched  feet  as  she  did  so.  The 
servant  appeared  at  the  door,  and  she  ordered 
him  to  bring  in  the  tray. 

"  Are  you  not  afraid  to  trust  Hildegarde  with 
so  handsome  a  man  as  Ralph  ?  "  asked  Conrad, 
with  a  saturnine  grimace. 

"  She  will  amuse  him  and  he  will  benefit 
her, — he  will  teach  her  something,"  Catalina 
replied ;  and  then,  turning  to  me,  "  I  shall  de- 
pend on  you  and  him  to  help  me  with  her ;  I 
want  to  make  a  success  of  her." 

'•And  yet  they  abuse  step-mothers,"  said 
Conrad. 

All  this  was  entertaining,  and  the  tea  was 
brought  in,  and  some  flagons  of  Rhine  wine 
also,  and  we  became  quietly  convivial  all 
round.  But  it  seemed  to  me  that  there  were 
forces  at  work  wkjch  might  breed  events  that 
would  be  something  more  than  entertaining. 
Two  women  and  one  man  make  mischief ;  and 
Conrad  appeared  likely  to  take  a  hand,  too. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  45 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SCHANDAU. 

IT  was  several  weeks  before  I  saw  either  Cata- 
lina  or  Hildegarde  again.  It  was  then  May,  one 
of  the  loveliest  months  of  the  year  in  Dresden. 
The  grass  was  soft  and  green,  the  new  leaves 
made  a  tender  verdure  on  the  trees,  and  the 
lilacs  were  in  bloom,  and  their  perfume  filled 
the  air  with  a  benediction.  The  sky  was  softly 
blue,  enriched  with  clouds,  which  are  nowhere 
more  beautiful  in  form  and  color  than  in  the 
valley  of  the  Elbe.  The  river  itself  came  swirl- 
ing and  rippling  down  from  amidst  the  distant 
hills,  overflowing  with  the  freshness  and  full- 
ness of  the  gracious  season,  and  foaming  against 
the  dark  piers  of  the  old  hog-backed  bridge  that 
had  stemmed  its  current  for  centuries.  The 
proprietors  of  the  river  baths  had  begun  to 
construct  their  platforms  and  moor  them  out  in 
the  stream  ;  and  a  wooden  terrace  was  being 
built  on  the  bank  beneath  the  walls  of  the 
Bellevue  Hotel,  whereon,  during  the  summer, 
innumerable  beer-drinkers  would  sit  and  imbibe 
the  great  German  liquor  in  the  breezy  shad- 
dow,  with  the  water  eddying  and  sparklingbe- 


46  The  Professor's  Sister. 

neath  them.  Now,  also,  the  open-air  concerts  at 
the  Grosser  Garten,  and  at  the  Waldschloschen, 
and  other  easily  accessible  suburbs,  were  in 
full  blast,  enabling  you  to  hear  the  best  of  music 
at  any  time  for  five  cents.  All  the  population 
appeared  to  be  parading  about,  ceaselessly 
loquacious  and  smiling,  in  fresh  bonnets 
and  spring  waistcoats.  Good  old  King  John, 
still  alive  at  that  epoch,  might  sometimes 
be  met  toddling  along  the  sunny  side  of  the 
Schloss  strasse,  with  his  old  queen  by  his  side, 
and  a  henchman  or  two  in  attendance  ;  in  the 
morning  you  might  see  Crown  Prince  Albert, 
accompanied  by  a  lady  who  was  too  handsome 
to  be  royal,  cantering  down  the  Hercules  Allee, 
through  fretted  sun  and  shadow.  It  was 
spring,  full  of  fresh  days  and  sunny  hopes. 

One  Saturday  we  made  a  party  to  go  up  the 
river  to  Schandau.  This  is  a  charming  little 
village  in  a  narrow  winding  valley,  about 
twenty-five  miles  above  Dresden.  The  village, 
beginning  with  a  hotel  at  the  river  bank,  pro- 
longs a  line  of  leaf-embowered  villas  for  some 
half  a  mile  along  the  brook  side,  there  ending 
in  another  hotel.  You  take  your  meals  beneath 
the  trees,  in  the  open  space  in  front  of  the 
hotel ;  a  band  plays  there  in  the  afternoon  ; 
on  either  side  are  precipitous  cliffs,  on  whose 
sides  trees  miraculously  cling,  and  which  are 


The  Professor's  Sister.  47 

ascended  by  paths  zig-zagging  upward  at  prac- 
ticable angles.  Schandau  is  the  outpost  of 
Saxon  Switzerland,  the  loveliest  little  region 
in  all  Germany. 

The  party  was  to  include  the  three  Hert- 
rugges — Conrad,  Catalina  and  Hildegarde,  and 
Ralph,  Will  Burlace  and  myself.  This  was 
two  cavaliers  apiece  for  the  ladies  wihch,  con- 
sidering the  excess  of  women  over  men  in  Ger- 
many, ought  to  have  been  very  satisfactory  to 
them.  But  at  the  last  moment  Conrad  found 
it  impossible  to  go.  As  all  our  preparations 
were  made,  and  the  day  was  fine,  it  was  de- 
cided to  proceed  without  him.  The  cause  of 
his  defection  was  a  telegram  he  had  received 
at  breakfast  from  one  of  the  professors  at  Frei- 
berg, announcing  an  important  meeting  to  be 
held  that  day  to  consider  the  case  of  a  certain 
student,  known  to  Conrad,  who  had  got  into 
trouble.  Conrad  was  at  first  inclined  not  to 
comply  with  the  summons  ;  but  inasmuch  as 
the  boy's  future  seemed  likety  to  depend  upon 
his  attendance,  he  finally  made  up  his  mind  to 
go.  At  parting,  he  drew  me  aside  and  said : 
"  I  don't  feel  altogether  satisfied  about  this 
thing.  The  student  is  one  of  the  eteadiest  in 
the  school.  I  cannot  understand  his  having 
behaved  in  such  a  manner.  Will  you  do  me  a 
favor  ? " 


48  The  Professors  Sister* 

"  With  pleasure." 

"  Well — keep  the  party  together  as  much  as 
possible.  I  shall  feel  more  at  ease  if  I  know 
the  young  people  are  not  getting  too  romantic. 
You  are  a  man  of  sense — one  can  trust  you  ; 
but  the  others  — !  " 

"  There  is  safety  in  numbers,  professor,"  I 
replied,  laughing ;  "  and  under  the  circum- 
stances, I  do  not  regard  what  you  say  about 
me  as  a  compliment.  However,  I  will  engage 
to  see  them  all  home  alive  this  evening." 

He  rubbed  his  chin,  seemed  to  meditate  for 
a  moment,  and  finally  turned  away  muttering 
something  I  did  not  catch.  He  took  the  train 
one  way,  and  we  the  other. 

In  spite  of  his  absence,  we  were  a  very  merry 
party.  Burlace  gave  the  guard  a  thaler  to  lock 
the  door  of  our  compartment,  which  was  a  first- 
class  one.  The  two  ladies  established  them- 
selves at  the  opposite  windows,  and  just  as  the 
train  started  Catalina  called  to  Ralph  and 
asked  him  to  disentangle  the  lace  fringe  of  her 
scarf  from  on*e  of  the  buttons  of  the  cushion,  to 
which  it  had  somehow  become  attached.  By  the 
time  he  had  accomplished  this  I  had  taken  my 
seat  opposite  Hildegarde,  and  Burlace  was  on 
the  other  side  of  her  ;  so  there  was  nothing  left 
for  Ralph  but  to  devote  himself  to  the  beauti- 
ful widow.  But  it  appeared  to  me  that  no  one 


The  Professor's  Sister.  49 

was  pieased  with  this  arrangement  except  Cata- 
lina,— leaving  myself,  who  would  have  been 
contented  anywhere,  out  of  the  question.  That 
is  to  say,  Burlace  wanted  to  be  with  Catalina, 
Ralph  wanted  to  be  with  Hildegarde,  and  Hil- 
degarde — to  put  the  attitude  negatively,  as  be- 
comes a  young  unmarried  woman — Hildegarde 
did  not  exhibit  any  marked  preference  for  the 
society  of  either  Will  Burlace  or  myself.  As 
we  had  a  full  hour's  ride  before  us,  this  was, 
perhaps,  unfortunate.  But  the  genius  of 
Ralph  was  equal  to  the  emergency.  He  did 
not,  indeed,  imitate  the  sublime  example  of 
Hildegarde,  on  an  occasion  already  described, 
and  simply  and  without  excuse  or  explanation, 
change  his  seat  from  where  he  did  not  to  where 
he  did  want  to  be ;  but  at  our  first  stopping  place, 
Pirna,  he  was  suddenly  seized  with  a  desire  to 
speak  to  the  guard,  and  since  the  station  was 
on  Hildegarde's  side,  he  was  obliged  to  come 
to  that  side  in  order  to  satisfy  his  desire. 
What  he  said  to  the  guard  I  do  not  remember ; 
but  while  he  was  standing  with  his  head  and 
shoulders  out  of  the  window,  Burlace  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  opportunity  to  transfer  himself 
to  the  place  opposite  Catalina,  and  then  Ralph, 
finding  his  retreat  cut  off,  was,  of  course, 
obliged  to  sit  down  by  Hildegarde.  So  now 
we  were  all  happy  except  Catalina, — and  myself, 


50  The  Professor  s  Sister. 

who,  as  I  have  already  explained,  was  the  ac- 
knowledged supernumerary  and  mere  looker- 
on.  In  this  order  we  arrived  at  our  destina- 
tion. 

After  being  ferried  across  the  river  to  the 
Schandau  landing,  we  strolled  up  the  lane  by 
the  brookside  to  the  hotel,  and  ordered  our 
dinner  for  one  o'clock.  We  took  this  walk  in 
a  group,  the  promiscuous  character  of  which 
was  almost  conspicuously,  albeit  tacitly,  pre- 
served. But  at  this  point  I  abandoned  for  the 
nonce  my  role  of  chaperon,  and  declaring  that 
I  must  and  would  have  a  bath  (there  are  ex- 
cellent baths  in  the  hotel),  I  left  niy  four 
friends  to  fight  it  out,  or  flirt  it  out,  as  best 
they  might.  They  started  off.  to  ascend  the 
hill  on  the  left,  and  were  soon  lost  to  sight  in 
the  bosky  pathway  leading  thither. 

I  entered  my  bath,  congratulating  myself  on 
my  uninteresting  and  uninterested  character. 
But  though  my  heart  was  free,  my  curiosity 
and  speculative  instincts  were  awake,  and  I 
could  not  hefp  wondering  what  would  come  out 
of  this  little  game  at  cross-purposes.  Too  much 
weight  might  easily  be  ascribed  to  what  I  had 
noticed ;  and  yet  it  was  plain  that  the  two 
ladies  both  preferred  the  same  man,  to-wit :  my 
friend  Ralph  Merlin.  I  could  not  blame  them 
for  this.  Ralph  was  to  poor  Burlace  as 


The  Professor's  Sister.  51 

Hyperion  to  a  satyr.  But  what  would  be  the 
result  of  it  ?  Would  Hildegarde  be  able  to 
hold  her  own  against  so  redoubtable  and  potent 
a  beauty  as  Catalina.  If  the  object  of  their 
rivalry  had  been  any  other  man  than  Ralph,  I 
should  have  doubted  it.  But  Ralph,  though 
human  enough  in  all  conscience,  in  spite  of  his 
trick  of  talking  metaphysics  and  mysticism, 
was  not  a  man  to  mistake  an  outside  for  an  in- 
side, still  less  to  prefer  the  former  to  the  latter  ; 
and  moreover  he  did  not  appear  to  be  merely 
indifferent  between  the  two  women,  but  had 
betrayed  a  certain  measure  of  preference  for 
the  strange  girl  with  the  hazel  eyes.  Catalina, 
then,  was  in  so  far  at  a  disadvantage ;  nor  was 
her  situation  improved  by  the  obvious  fact  that 
Hildegarde  reciprocated  Ralph's  interest.  In 
a  matter  of  love,  an  unsophisticated  maiden 
may  sometimes  prove  more  than  a  match  for 
even  a  beautiful  woman  of  the  world  and  a 
widow.  And  Hildegarde  had  traits  of  character 
that  would  have  to  be  taken  into  consideration 
by  anybody. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  was  benevolent  enough 
to  be  sorry  that  Catalina  had  not  happened  to 
take  a  fancy  to  poor  Will  Burlace.  If  it  were 
not  an  ideal  match,  at  any  rate  it  was  really 
preferable  to  one  between  her  and  Ralph.  And 
after  all,  why  should  she  be  in  such  haste  to  fall 


52  The  Professor's  Sister. 

in  love  with  anybody  ?  Only  seven  or  eight 
months  ago  she  had  a  hushand.  It  was  true 
that  the  deceased  Mr.  Hertrugge  may  have  won 
her  not  solely  on  his  own  merits ;  but  some 
consideration  was  due  to  the  poor  man's 
memory.  And  what  wrould  Conrad  say  to  such 
behavior  ?  It  was  already  evident  that  he  was 
not  pleased  about  something  ;  though  whether 
it  was  to  the  marriage  of  his  step-mother,  or 
that  of  his  sister,  that  he  objected,  I  do  not 
know.  Neither  was  I  aware  what  power  he 
possessed,  if  any,  to  oppose  or  check  the  pro- 
ceedings. But,  again,  possibly — and  1  thought 
it  quite  possible — Ralph  might  feel  only  an 
aesthetic  or  psychological  interest  in  Hilde- 
garde,  in  which  case  a  half  at  least  of  the 
Gordian  knot  would  be  cut.  By  this  time  I 
had  finished  my  ablutions,  and  resuming  my 
garments,  1  sat  down  in  the  courtyard  to  await 
the  return  of  my  friends,  and  the  arrival  of 
dinner.  It  was  not  long  before  I  heard  voices 
from  the  hillside,  and  among  them  the 
stentorian  tones  of  Burlace,  who  seemed  to  be 
in  a  complacent  mood.  1  was  curious  to  see 
in  what  order  the  quartette  would  reappear. 
When,  presently,  they  hove  in  sight,  it  ap- 
peared that  fortune  continued  to  favor  Hilde- 
garde  thus  far.  She  and  Ralph  were  together, 
walking  some  twenty  paces  behind  Burlace  and 


The  Professor's  Sister.  53 

Catalina.  Nevertheless,  Catalina  was  in  high 
spirits — rather  unduly  high,  I  fancied.  She 
was  laughing  and  talking  with  Burlace,  and 
looked  positively  glorious,  with  her  complexion 
like  white  and  red  roses  and  her  eyes  like  black 
diamonds.  I  was  conscious  of  a  great  and  dis- 
interested sympathy  for  her.  What  a  pity  that 
such  a  woman  could  riot  have  her  own  way  in 
everything!  With  so  much  of  primal  nature 
in  her,  she  must  be  more  good  than  bad.  There 
was  evil  in  her,  of  course,  as  there  is  in  every- 
body ;  but  it  would  come  to  the  surface  only  if 
she  were  opposed,  or  injured,  or  disappointed. 
Why  could  not  late  allow  her  to  enjoy  herself 
in  her  own  way  ?  It  is  singular  how  life  often 
seems  to  provoke  people — deliberately  hound 
them — into  being  worse  than  they  might  be. 
Catalina  would  be  all  right  if  she  were  let  alone. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  she  were  crossed  and 
driven  into  a  corner,  she  was  capable  of  serious 
mischief.  As  for  Burlace,  he  was  enchanted ! 
He  belonged  to  the  class  of  people  who  are  most 
sanguine  at  the  moment  when  everyone  else 
perceives  their  final  discomfiture.  Ralph  and 
Hildegarde,  like  Dante  and  Beatrice,  were 
happy  but  quiet. 

The  dinner  was  good ;  and  we  had  some  Mar- 
cobrunner  that  was  so  inspiring  that  we  were 
convinced  it  must  be  the  original  drink  of  im- 


54  The  Professor's  Sister. 

mortality,  from  the  famous  Fountain  of  Youth. 
And  yet,  what  did  we  want  of  the  wine  of 
youth  ?  It  wras  twenty  years  ago.  I  would  ap- 
preciate it  better  now. 

Every  once  in  a  while  I  caught  a  glance  from 
Catalina's  jubilant  black  eyes.  What  was  in 
that  woman's  mind  ?  Sometimes,  too,  I  saw 
her  looking  at  Hildegarde  ;  and  then  her  regard 
became  pre-occupied  and  dreamy ;  it  made  me 
think  of  an  Eastern  empress,  calmly  watching 
the  agonies  of  a  dying  slave.  Yet  Hildegarde 
was  neither  a  slave  nor  moribund. 

Coffee  was  brought,  and  we  lighted  our 
cigars.  The  sun  had  passed  its  zenith,  and 
was  shining  up  the  narrow  valley.  The  band 
appeared  and  began  to  play.  But  the  music 
was  too  near  and  loud ;  by  common  consent  we 
rose,  and  sauntered  down  the  shadowy  path 
towards  the  river.  On  arriving  there,  Catalina 
pointed  to  a  steep  elevation  on  our  right, 
covered  by  some  small  buildings,  and  com- 
manding a  fine  view,  and  proposed  that  we 
should  ascend  thither.  It  is  nothing  to  a  party 
of  young  people  to  climb  a  mountain  in  the 
evening  of  a  day's  outing.  Up  we  went,  bend- 
ing to  the  arduous  path,  breathing  deep,  and  re- 
joicing as  height  after  height  was  gained. 
Beaching  the  breezy  summit,  we  found  there  a 
tiny  "  Bestauration,"  with  benches  and  tables 


The  Professors  Sister.  55 

in  front  of  it,  and  intimations  of  cool  beer  in 
the  background. 

We  sat  down  on  the  benches,  and  were 
waited  upon  by  a  neat  and  comely  little  maiden, 
with  her  flaxen  hair  braided  down  her  back, 
after  the  manner  of  the  Gretchen  of  romance. 
I,  being  otherwise  mateless,  entered  into  con- 
verse with  her,  and  she  made  cheerful  replies 
to  my  questions.  There  was  a  little  dome- 
shaped  structure  on  the  top  of  a  rocky  knoll, 
overlooking  even  the  height  on  which  we  sat; 
and  I  asked  her  what  was  kept  in  it. 

"  Oh,  that  is  the  camera-obscura,"  she  said. 
"  Have  you  never  seen  one  ?  " 

I  had;  but  camera-obscuras  have  an  abiding 
fascination  for  me  ;  and  I  wanted  to  see  this 
one  also.  Gretchen  expressed  her  willingness 
to  do  the  honors  of  it ;  I  laid  the  matter  before 
the  others,  but  none  of  them  were  inspired  by 
my  enthusiasm,  so  I  left  them,  and  went  up 
with  Gretchen  into  the  mount  of  vision.  It 
was  an  excellent  camera,  and  commanded  a  vast 
horizon.  After  causing  the  regular  series  of 
sights  to  pass  across  the  stage,  ending  up  with 
our  own  party  still  seated  at  the  tables, 
Gretchen  paused  and  asked  me  if  I  were 
content. 

I  crossed  her  honest  little  palm  with  silver, 
and  requested  her  permission  to  remain  in  the 


56  The  Professor's  Sister. 

camera  by  myself  for  a  while  ;  to  which  she 
readily  assented,  and  departed  to  her  other 
guests  and  duties.  I  got  hold  of  the  cord  that 
moved  the  lens,  and  began  to  explore  the  neigh- 
borhood at  Imp-hazard.  The  silent  but  living 
pictures,  in  the  lovely  colors  of  nature,  suc- 
ceeded one  another ;  the  trees  waved,  the  river 
ran,  the  little  skiffs  sailed  to  and  fro  upon  it ; 
an  interminable  freight  train  slid  along  the 
track,  with  white  steam  puffing  from  its  engine. 
Once  an  eagle  sailed  leisurely  athwart  the  sky, 
without  a  pulsation  of  his  long  dark  wings.  I 
turned  the  glass  full  upon  the  sky,  which 
showed  lakes  and  straits  of  intense  azure,  be- 
tween superb  masses  of  cloud,  fleecy  white  and 
tender  gray,  like  the  plumage  of  a  sea-gull. 
Turning  more  to  the  west,  I  saw  there  masses 
thickening  and  darkening,  and  assuming  here 
and  there  strange  tinges  of  yellow  and  green  ; 
and  towards  the  remote  horizon  there  was  a 
whitish  blue.  A  thunder  storm  was  coming 
on,  and  setting  in  this  direction.  As  the  frown- 
ing cloud  wall  drew  nearer,  I  could  see  light- 
ning wriggling  across  it. 

The  idea  of  watching  a  thunderstorm  as  it 
painted  itself  in  a  camera-obscura  pleased  me 
hugely  ;  it  combined  the  realism  of  nature  with 
the  imaginative  charm  of  a  theatre.  I  directed 
the  lens  to  the  little  restauration,  in  order  to 


The  Professor's  Sister.  57 

find  out  what  my  friends  were  doing ;  but  they 
had  all  vanished.  Only  Catalina's  parasol 
lay  upon  one  of  the  tables  ;  and  Gretchen  stood 
in  the  door  of  the  house,  glancing  at  the  sky 
and  the  landscape.  Had  the  others  wandered 
off  somewhere,  or  were  they  in  the  restauration? 
I  grasped  the  magic  cord,  and  set  off  on  a  voy- 
age of  discovery. 


58  The  Professor's  lister. 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE    SPECTRE    OF    THE     CAMERA. 

THE  nearer  rim  of  the  storm-cloud  was  now 
nearly  overhead,  and  the  body  of  the  disturb- 
ance was  but  a  mile  or  two  distant,  sweeping 
up  the  valley  of  the  Elbe,  and  shrouding  the 
lofty  cliffs  of  Koenigstein  and  Lilienstein  in 
driving  rain.  I  kept  the  darkest  part  of  the 
cloud  on  the  centre  of  my  canvas,  and  watched 
its  swift  and  majestic  approach.  The  lightning 
was  incessant,  and  showed  blue  and  red  as  well 
as  white,  and  the  un intermittent  roll  and  ex- 
plosions of  the  thunder  filled  my  ears.  If  my 
unfortunate  companions  had  gone  out  into  the 
woods,  they  would  inevitably  be  drenched  to 
the  skin. 

I  surveyed  my  immediate  surroundings  for 
several  minutes  without  seeing  traces  of  any  of 
them.  The  elevation  to  which  we  had  ascended, 
following  the  general  conformation  of  the  re- 
gion, was  in  the  shape  of  an  irregular  butte,  or 
table-land  bounded  on  all  sides  by  nearly  verti- 
cal precipices.  These  precipices,  however,  were 
cleft  by  deep  ravines  and  gullies,  whereby 
access  was  gained  to  the  summit ;  and  the  sum- 


The  Professor's  Sister.  59 

mit  itself  was  only  comparatively  level, — it 
was,  in  fact,  rough  and  uneven,  with  loose 
bowlders  resting  upon  it,  and  everywhere  a 
thick  growth  of  pines  and  other  trees.  Nar- 
row footpaths  wound  in  and  out  from  one  point 
to  another;  but  there  had  been  no  attempt  to 
render  the  surface  homogeneous. 

From  my  high  standpoint,  I  could  command 
this  limited  space  much  better  than  any  one 
below  me,  and  I  accordingly  passed  it  carefully 
and  sj^stematically  in  review,  with  the  assur- 
ance that  I  could  not  fail  to  discover  my  friends 
sooner  or  later,  if  they  were  anywhere  upon  it. 
By  and  by  I  was  rewarded  by  the  sight  of 
Catalina  and  Will  Burlace,  who  were  standing 
together  beneath  the  broad  boughs  of  a  pine, 
looking  out  at  the  oncoming  storm. 

Presently  Catalina  turned  to  Burlace,  and 
seemed  to  be  speaking  to  him;  he  replied; 
they  glanced  up  at  the  boughs  above  them,  and 
then  again  out  over  the  valley.  I  judged  that 
she  had  offered  some  suggestion,  which  they 
had  discussed,  and  to  which  Burlace  acceded  ; 
for  a  moment  later  he  nodded  his  head,  left  her 
side,  and  walked  off  at  a  brisk  pace  in  the 
direction  of  the  restauration.  She  had  doubt- 
less asked  him  to  fetch  her  an  umbrella,  or  a 
cloak  to  protect  her  from  the  rain. 

I  followed  his  course  for  a  few  moments,  as 


60  The  Professor's  Sister. 

he  alternately  appeared  and  disappeared  in  the 
windings  of  the  path,  and  "beneath  the  over- 
hanging branches  of  the  trees.  It  struck  me 
that  he  was  taking  the  wrong  path,  hut  I  was 
unable  to  apprise  him  of  his  error.  I  returned 
to  the  spot  where  he  had  left  Catalina ;  but  to 
my  surprise,  she  was  no  longer  there.  Had 
she  left  the  tree  for  some  more  effective  shelter 
from  the  imminent  downpour,  or  for  another 
reason  ?  It  suddenly  struck  me  that  the 
errand  on  which  she  had  despatched  Burlace 
might  merely  be  another  of  her  expedients  to  get 
rid  of  him  ;  and  as  soon  as  he  was  out  of  sight 
she  had  transferred  herself  elsewhere. 

But  this  could  be  only  a  piece  of  wanton 
mischief  on  her  part,  or  it  might  even  be  CO' 
quetry  ;  for  she  had  nothing  to  gain  now  by 
hiding  herself  from  him,  except  the  certainty 
of  getting  wet.  It  was  not  as  if  she  were  plot- 
ting  to  exchange  Burlace  for  Ralph,  for  Balph 
was  not  there.  By  the  way,  where  was  he  ? 
and  Hildegarde  ?  she  must  be  with  him. 

All  this  time  the  gloom  of  the  great  over- 
whelming cloud  was  deepening,  and  the  savage 
flashes  of  lightning  made  the  intervals  between 
seem  darker ;  and  the  thunder  was  uninter- 
rupted, booming  and  crashing  and  leaping  in 
heavy  echoes  from  peak  to  peak  of  the  hills,  as 
if  giants  were  flinging  vast  bowlders  at  one 


The  Professor's  Sister.  61 

another.  The  appearance  of  the  surface  of  the 
cloud  overhead  was  awful  and  bewildering;  it 
boiled  and  eddied  like  an  aerial  maelstrom;  it 
was  iridescent  with  lurid  tints,  and  pieces  of 
vapor  were  ever  and  anon  torn  off  from  the 
main  mass  and  snatched  and  twisted  about 
this  way  and  that  in  the  fury  of  the  upper 
whirlwind.  Jt  was  a  terrifying  spectacle  ;  such 
a  storm  as  this  I  had  never  seen  in  Germany, 
and  at  so  early  a  period  of  the  year  it  was  un- 
precedented. I  began  to  fear  that  Ralph  and 
Hildegarde  and  the  others  might  be  exposed  to 
a  real  danger. 

Just  then  a  turn  of  the  glass  brought  Ralph 
into  view.  He  was  hurrying  across  the  rough 
ground  and  through  the  wood,  not  attempting 
to  keep  the  path,  but  making  a  straight  line 
for  the  restauration.  He  was  alone,  and  I  could 
only  suppose  that  he,  like  Burlace,  had  started 
to  procure  some  means  of  protection  for  Hilde- 
garde, whom  he  had  probably  left  in  some 
place  of  comparative  shelter.  The  first  breath 
of  the  gale  had  now  reached  the  butt,  but  as 
yet  not  a  drop  of  rain  had  fallen. 

All  at  once,  Catalina  stepped  out  from  be- 
hind a  rock,  directly  in  Ralph's  path,  so  that 
he  almost  ran  against  her.  He  halted  sud- 
denly ;  and  then  I  witnessed  a  remarkable 
scene. 


62  The  Professor's  Sister. 

A  dazzling  flash  of  lightning  glared  out,  and 
simultaneously  with  it  came  an  appalling  crash 
of  thunder.  I  saw  Catalina,  as  if  beside  her- 
self with  terror  or  excitement,  throw  herself 
upon  Ralph,  and  fling  her  arms  round  him. 

Ralph  was  apparently  as  much  surprised  at 
this  as  I  was.  But  he  instinctively  put  his 
hands  on  her  shoulders,  and  for  several  mo- 
ments she  clung  to  him,  with  her  face  against 
his  breast.  The  gloom  had  closed  round  them, 
but  in  another  breath  it  was  lit  up  again,  and 
she  was  looking  up  in  his  face,  and  speaking 
passionately.  He  drew  back  a  little,  but  again 
she  clung  to  him  ;  all  the  strength  and  fire  of 
her  nature  were  put  forth  ;  who  can  tell  what 
she  said  or  intimated  ?  The  mere  distant  re- 
flection of  the  scene,  from  which  I  could  not 
turn  away  my  eyes,  revealed  and  concealed  in 
quick  and  irregular  alternation  by  the  electric 
flashes,  made  my  nerves  thrill  and  my  pulses 
beat.  Beyond  a  doubt  this  magnificent  crea- 
ture was  offering  herself  to  Ralph  ;  could  any 
man  withstand  the  intoxicating  onset  of  such 
a  spirit  and  passion  as  hers  ?  And  to  all  was 
added  the  excitement  and  hurly-burty  of  the 
great  storm,  as  if  the  elements  themselves  took 
part  in  the  tumult  of  her  heart  and  brain. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  Ralph  wavered  for  a 
moment.  He  would  not  have  been  human 


The  Professor's  Sister.  63 

had  he  remained  unmoved  and  in  command  of 
himself.  To  hear  such  love  so  told;  to  feel 
her  alive  in  his  arms  and  pressed  against  him; 
to  see  that  beautiful  face  so  close  to  his  that 
her  lips  spoke  almost  against  his  lips,  and  her 
eyes  wet  with  wild  tears  and  ardent  with  the 
flame  of  her  desire  looked  into  his  own, — in 
such  a  situation  virtue  dissolves  like  snow  in 
fire.  Ralph  bent  his  head  towards  her  ;  for  an 
instant  darkness  closed  them  in;  and  what 
took  place  in  that  instant  can  only  be  conjec- 
tured. But  alas  for  Ralph,  and  for  her ! 

The  revulsions  of  feeling  in  such  cases  are 
as  rapid  as  they  are  intense.  I  knew  that 
Ealph  did  not  love  her,  and  that  he  had  yielded 
to  a  passionate  impulse  only.  And  having 
yielded,  at  such  a  white  heat  of  emotion,  the 
recoil  would  be  inevitable  and  absolute.  When 
I  looked  again  he  had  unclasped  her  arms,  and 
drawn  back  from  her  a  step ;  they  faced  each 
other  so,  and  he  was  speaking.  As  he  spoke, 
at  first  she  heard  him  defiantly  and  wrathfully, 
standing  erect  at  her  full  height,  with  her  head 
poised  like  a  serpent's,  about  to  strike.  Then 
some  word  of  his  hit  her  hard  ;  she  winced  and 
her  head  fell ;  she  half-raised  her  hands  arid 
shrunk  as  if  to  avoid  a  blow.  And  then  her 
arms  dropped  listlessly  to  her  sides,  and  the 
pose  of  her  figure  expressed  the  apathy  of  de- 


64  The  Professor  s  Sister. 

spair.  She  attempted  no  reply  ;  she  did  not 
lift  her  face  ;  and  when  he  left  her  and  passed 
on,  she  did  not  turn  to  look  after  him. 

Evidently,  then,  he  had  smitten  hard  ;  and 
few  men  could  smite  harder  than  he.  And  he 
had  killed  something  in  her.  Perhaps  it  was 
pride  ;  perhaps  it  was  something  better  than 
pride.  We  are  always  wrong  when  we  judge 
our  fellow-creatures,  and  we  are  wicked  when 
we  condemn  them  and  shame  them,  no  matter 
for  what  cause.  Possibly  Ralph  would  have 
been  less  cruel  had  he  not  known  in  his  heart 
that  he  too  was  accountant  for  a  sin. 

After  Ralph  was  gone,  Catalina  moved,  drew 
her  shoulders  together  as  if  she  felt  cold,  and 
passed  her  hands  over  her  eyes.  She  took  a 
step  or  two  forward,  and  paused  ;  walked  a  few 
paces  in  another  direction,  and  paused  again. 
She  seemed  hardly  to  realize  where  she  was,  or 
what  she  was  doing.  But  presently  a  change 
came  over  her ;  some  definite  purpose  had  en- 
tered into  her  mind,  and  she  had  immediately 
become  intent  upon  it,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
other  ideas.  At  first  I  could  not  imagine  what 
it  was  ;  but  her  course  was  taking  her  directly 
to  one  of  the  most  headlong  precipices,  which 
plunged  sheer  downwards,  five  hundred  feet 
without  a  break,  to  a  chaos  of  tumbled  rocks 
beneath.  What  should  a  desperate  woman, 


The  Professor's  Sister.  65 

whose  love  had  just  been  thrust  back  on  her 
with  contumely,  seek  on  the  edge  of  a  preci- 
pice ?  The  answer  was  terribly  obvious.  I 
was  about  to  witness  the  suicide  of  Catalina, 
without  being  able  to  do  any  thing  to  avert  it. 
I  was  powerless  as  a  man  in  a  dream.  She  was 
in  one  world,  and  I  in  another,  with  no  possi- 
bility of  intercommunication  ;  and  yet  we  were 
perhaps  not  more  than  three  hundred  yards 
distant  from  each  other. 

She  was  now  within  twenty  paces  of  the  end. 
A  sloping  terrace,  some  ten  feet  in  height,  de- 
scended to  the  rocky  brink.  At  the  top  of  the 
terrace  grew  two  or  three  small  evergreens, 
and  just  on  the  crest  of  the  declivity  was  bal- 
anced a  small  bowlder,  about  as  big  as  a  mam- 
moth pumpkin. 

When  Catalina  reached  this  terrace,  she 
stopped  short,  with  a  start,  and  then  drew  back 
behind  the  shelter  of  the  evergreens.  Here 
she  crouched  down  and  gazed ;  and  I  gazed, 
too. 

On  the  very  brink  of  the  abyss,  where  the 
downward  slope  of  the  terrace  ended,  stood 
Hildegarde.  She  stood  looking  outward  to- 
wards the  storm,  which  filled  the  vast  gulf  be- 
fore her.  She  was  absorbed  in  the  spectacle. 
She  held  herself  proudly  and  exultingly,  like 
some  divinity  of  earth  and  air ;  the  fighting 
o 


66  The  Professor's  Sister. 

wind  had  loosened  the  fastenings  of  her  tawny 
hair,  and  it  streamed  out  behind  her  with  a 
movement  like  leaping  flame,  and  her  garments 
fluttered  like  a  rent  sail  wrapped  on  a  slender 
mast.  She  raised  her  arms,  as  if  to  rise  on 
wings  and  stem  the  gale. 

Her  position  was  one  of  imminent  peril.  A 
step  forward — a  loss  of  halance — and  she  would 
have  been  lost.  But  she  was  manifestly 
unconscious  of  danger,  or  indifferent  to  it. 
Her  nerves  were  not  shaken ;  her  heart  beat 
strong  and  full ;  her  reserved  and  silent  na- 
ture was  awake  and  rejoicing.  It  needs  plan- 
etary influence  to  arouse  some  souls,  while 
others  expand  themselves  at  the  bubbling  of  a 
tea-kettle.  In  spite  of  her  logical  danger,  Hil- 
degarde  was  safe.  I  wondered  whether  the 
storm  alone  was  answerable  for  her  exaltation, 
or  whether  Ralph  also  had  been  concerned 
in  it. 

Did  the  same  thought  come  to  Catalina  at 
that  moment  ?  As  I  turned  my  eyes  on  her, 
I  saw  that  she*  had  emerged  from  behind  the 
evergreens,  and  was  creeping  towards  the  small 
bowlder  that  was  poised  above  the  slope.  All 
the  while  her  gaze  was  fixed  intently  on  Hilde- 
garde,  as  a  panther  watches  a  fawn  upon  which 
it  prepares  to  spring.  Catalina  reached  the 
bowlder,  and  laid  her  hands  upon  it. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  67 

Then  I  comprehended  what  was  about  to 
happen.  A  vigorous  push,  such  as  Catalina 
was  fully  able  to  give  it,  would  send  the  bowl- 
der bounding  down  the  terrace.  Hildegarde 
stood  exactly  in  its  path  over  the  precipice.  It 
would  strike  her,  and  sweep  her  down  to  de- 
struction. Catalina  had  changed  her  purpose 
from  suicide  to  murder.  Ralph  had  crushed 
her  pride  and  scouted  her  love.  She  would  see 
to  it  that  Hildegarde  did  not  enjoy  his  love 
either. 

As  I  saw  the  wretched  woman  press  against 
the  stone,  I  involuntarily  shouted  out  to  warn 
Hildegarde  of  her  fate.  I  might  as  well  have 
appealed  to  the  stars.  My  voice  came  impo- 
tently  back  to  me  from  the  black  sides  of  the 
camera;  and  even  had  I  been  as  near  her  as 
was  her  intending  murderess,  the  reverberations 
of  the  thunder  and  the  roar  of  the  wind  would 
have  out-shouted  my  words. 

The  stone  stirred,  and  trembled  on  its  fall. 
But  before  it  could  descend,  a  figure  appeared 
on  the  very  verge  of  the  gulf.  It  almost 
seemed  as  if  it  must  be  standing  on  the  empty 
air ;  it  was  on  a  level  with  Hildegarde,  and  a 
pace  or  two  to  her  left.  How  it  had  come 
there  was  more  than  I  could  conceive  ;  an  in- 
stant before,  a  glare  of  lightning  had  shown 
the  place  vacant ;  the  next  flash  had,  as  it  were. 


68  The  Professor's  Sister. 

brought  him  there, — for  the  figure  was  that  of 
a  man,  and  of  one  whom  I  immediately  recog- 
nized. Its  appearance,  and  what  followed 
thereupon,  all  passed  in  the  fraction  of  a 
minute ;  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  new- 
comer was  more  clearly  visible  than  either 
Catalina  or  Hildegarde  ;  the  effigy  cast  by  the 
lens  had  a  kind  of  luminous  quality  in  it,  as  if 
it  had  absorbed  some  of  the  electric  light  which 
charged  the  atmosphere.  The  figure  extended 
his  left  hand  towards  Hildegarde,  and  beck- 
oned to  her  with  an  urgent  gesture.  She,  too, 
evidently  recognized  him ;  but  manifested 
little  or  no  surprise  at  his  presence. 

The  stone  plunged  downward ;  but  before 
it  could  reach  Hildegarde,  she  had  quietly 
stepped  a  pace  to  the  left,  and  it  flew  past  her 
harmlessly.  I  saw  Catalina  throw  up  her 
hands  and  stagger  back,  with  an  aspect  of 
terror ;  but  when  I  looked  again  for  the  appa- 
rition of  Conrad  Hcrtrugge,  it  had  vanished. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  69 


CHAPTER  VI. 
MR.  HERTRUGGE'S  WILL. 

SIMULTANEOUSLY  with  this  strange  event, 
the  rain,  which  had  held  off  so  long,  rushed 
down  in  a  gray  sheet,  and  blotted  out  every- 
thing. It  rattled  upon  the  roof  of  the  camera 
with  a  noise  like  the  beating  of  innumerable 
kettle-drums.  But  I  had  seen  enough;  the 
spell  that  had  kept  me  there  was  broken ;  I 
found  the  door  and  came  forth.  The  rain 
struck  me  like  a  shower-bath,  and  I  was  soaked 
through  before  I  could  descend  the  knoll  to  the 
level.  The  first  thing  I  saw  was  Ealph  and 
Burlace  running  off  through  the  trees  with 
waterproof  blankets  in  their  arms. 

I  had  no  wish  to  follow  them.  I  did  not 
doubt  -that  they  would  find  Catalina  and  Hil- 
degarde,  and  bring  them  safely  back.  I  walked 
across  to  the  restauration.  Gretchen  met  me 
in  the  doorway  with  exclamations  of  concern 
and  compassion.  The  Herr  was  so  wet !  The 
Herr  would  catch  cold !  Everybody  would 
catch  cold  !  Never  was  such  a  storm  known. 
What  was  to  be  done !  Oh  weh  !  Oh  weh  ! 


70  The  Professor's  Sister. 

I  followed  her  into  the  kitchen,  where  I  took 
off  my  coat  and  waistcoat  and  sat  down  before 
the  cooking-stove.  Gretchen  trotted  here  and 
there,  getting  out  dry  wraps  for  the  ladies, 
when  they  should  return.  I  could  think  of  but 
one  thing — the  appearance  of  Conrad  on  the 
cliff.  By  no  means  could  I  imagine  how  he 
could  have  got  there.  I  had  seen  him  depart 
in  the  train  for  Freiberg.  It  was  an  hour's 
journey  from  Dresden  thither.  The  first  train 
back  to  Dresden  did  not  leave  Freiberg  until 
half-past  one  in  the  afternoon.  Supposing  him 
to  have  taken  it, — which  in  itself  was  most  un- 
likely,— he  would  have  reached  Dresden  at  half- 
past  two.  The  first  train  after  that,  from 
Dresden  to  Schandau,  started  at  half-past 
three,  arriving  at  half-past  four.  I  looked  at 
my  watch ;  it  was  now  twenty  minutes  of  five. 
Granting  that  he  had  been  on  that  train,  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  have 
been  ferried  across  the  river  and  to  have  as- 
cended the  hill  in  less  than  twenty  minutes  ; 
and  five  minutes  had  already  passed  since  I 
saw  him.  According  to  my  reckoning  then, 
the  event  fell  at  least  fifteen  minutes  short  of 
being  a  physical  possibility.  The  only  way 
out  of  the  mystery  was  to  suppose  that  Conrad 
had  chartered  an  engine  specially  to  convey 
him  hither.  But  to  charter  an  engine  is  by  no 


The  Professor's  Sister.  71 

means  so  simple  an  affair  in  Germany  as  it  is  in 
America.  Moreover,  what  conceivable  motive 
could  have  induced  Conrad  to  take  such  a  step  ? 
He  could  not  have  foreseen  that  his  sister  was 
to  undergo  any  peril. 

Apart  from  all  this,  however,  the  conditions 
under  which  I  saw  the  figure  were  inexplicable. 
The  peculiar  luminousness  and  distinctness 
which  characterized  it  j  the  position  in  which 
it  stood,  apparently  on  nothing ;  and  the  cir- 
cumstances which  I  now  recalled,  that  its  gar- 
ments, in  the  midst  of  a  gale  that  was  bending 
the  pine  trees  like  grass,  hung  down  unmoved, 
as  if  in  an  atmosphere  completely  calm  j  all 
these  things  combined  to  fortify  the  mystery, 
I  should  have  put  down  the  appearance  as  an 
hallucination,  due  either  to  the  disturbed  state 
of  the  air,  or  of  my  own  mind  at  the  time  ;  but  it 
had  evidently  been  seen  also  by  both  Hildegarde 
and  Catalina ;  the  former  had  obeyed  its  gest- 
ure to  move  to  one  side,  and  the  latter  had 
been  overcome  with  fear.  Besides,  the  figure 
had  not  appeared  to  me  directly,  but  through 
the  medium  of  the  lens  of  the  camera ;  and  I  had 
never  heard  of  an  hallucination  presenting  it- 
self in  that  manner. 

My  meditations  had  reached  this  unsatisfac- 
tory conclusion  when  I  heard  voices  and  steps, 
and  turning,  I  saw  my  four  friends  entering 


72  The  Professor's  Sister. 

the  kitchen,  convoyed  by  Gretchen.  The  rain, 
meanwhile,  had  ceased,  having  been  as  brief 
as  it  was  violent ;  the  heavy  clouds  were  break- 
ing away  in  the  west,  and  the  roll  of  the  thun- 
der sounded  like  the  cannon  of  some  great 
battle  far  to  the  north  and  east.  Catalina  and 
Burlace  came  first,  laughing  and  talking  ;  then 
Hildegarde,  whose  face  had  unusual  color  and 
animation,  and  finally  Ralph,  whose  straight 
black  eyebrows  lowered  over  his  eyes.  He  was 
the  only  one  of  the  four  who  seemed  to  be  out 
of  spirits. 

"At  last  I  have  had  my  wish,"  exclaimed 
Catalina,  throwing  off  her  blanket.  "I  have 
always  wanted  to  be  out  in  a  thunder-storm 
without  an  umbrella,  and  now  I  have  done  it. 
Nothing  could  be  more  refreshing  !  " 

"  But  what  about  dying  of  pneumonia  ?  " 
said  I. 

"Dying  !  I  am  not  going  to  die,  Monsieur. 
I  am  going  to  live  and  be  happy  !  I  am  al- 
ready younger  than  I  was  this  morning.  I 
have  bathed  in  electricity  as  well  as  in  rain- 
water." 

"  And  yet  you  would  commit  suicide !  " 
said  I. 

She  became  pale  in  a  moment,  and  gazed  at 
me  with  a  sort  of  stealthy  consternation.  Her 
lips  parted,  but  she  did  not  speak. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  73 

"It  is  nothing  less  than  suicide,"  I  con- 
tinued, "to  think  of  going  home  in  those  wet 
clothes.  You  are  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice. 
Draw  back  ! " 

"  What  an  old  raven  you  are  !  "  put  in  Burlace, 
with  his  rough  voice.  "  You're  always  for 
plaguing  folks !  Madame  Hertrugge  is  all 
right.  She  is  dressed  in  woolen,  and  the  rain 
won't  hurt  her.  Still,  madame,  if  you  would 
like  to  put  on  one  of  Gretchen's  gowns  while 
your  things  are  drying  — " 

"No,  not  I !"  she  replied,  taking  breath  and 
recovering  her  self-possession.  "  Besides,  we 
must  take  the  train  in  half  an  hour." 

"  I  have  a  better  plan  than  that,"  remarked 
Ralph.  "  The  steamboat  starts  in  half  an  hour, 
too,  and  you  and  Miss  Hildegarde  can  have  a 
stateroom  on  that.  You  can  go  to  bed  during 
the  run  home,  and  by  the  time  you  get  there 
your  things  will  be  dry." 

"  Oh,  to  be  sure,  Hildegarde  is  delicate ! " 
returned  Catalina,  with  a  touch  of  mockery  in 
her  voice,  "you  are  quite  right  to  consider  her, 
Mr.  Merlin." 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  horse  here,  I  would  like  to 
ride,"  said  Hildegarde. 

"  Twenty-five  miles  on  horseback  would  be 
a  little  too  much,  after  to-day,"  replied  Ralph, 
looking  at  her  with  undisguised  tenderness, 


74  The  Professor's  Sister. 

"we    are    answerable    to    Conrad   for    you." 

"By  the  way,"  said  I,  glancing  carelessly 
at  Catalina,  "  have  any  of  you  seen  Conrad  this 
afternoon  ?  " 

Catalina  started  perceptibly,  and  again  the 
color  left  her  face.  She  dropped  her  eyes,  and 
the  hand  which  she  put  up  to  smooth  back  her 
hair,  trembled. 

"  I  believe  you've  got  a  chill  in  spite  of  your 
woolens,  Madame  Hertrugge,"  said  Burlace. 
"  The  boat  will  be  the  best  thing,  after  all, — 
what's  that  you  say — saw  Conrad?"  he  added, 
staring  at  me  with  a  grin  of  amazement. 
"  There's  nobody  here  that  I  know  of  can  see 
from  this  to  Freiberg.  What  are  you  think- 
ing of  ?  " 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  he  may  have  been  here  in 
spirit,  at  any  rate.  If  we  are  going  to  take 
that  steamer  I  think  we  had  better  be  getting 
off." 

We  all  rose  and  made  ready  to  go.  Hilde- 
garde  came  up  to  me  as  I  stood  a  little  apart 
from  the  others,  and  looked  at  me  anxiously. 

"  Can  you  see  spirits  ?"  she  asked,  in  a  low 
voice. 

"  Ralph  and  I  were  debating  the  other  day 
whether  spirits  could  be  seen,"  I  replied.  u  I 
believe  he  argued  that  they  could  not.  What 
is  your  opinion  ?" 


The  Professor's  Sister.  75 

"  Spirits  .  .  .  perhaps  not,"  she  said  slowly. 
"  But  I  fancied  you  might  mean  .  .  .  how- 
ever, it  is  no  matter." 

"  The  ancients  used  to  believe  in  tutelary 
spirits,  or  something  of  that  kind,  whose  office 
it  was  to  warn  them  of  danger,  and  advise  them. 
I  should  not  he  surprised  if  some  being  of  that 
order  watched  over  you, — some  aerial  Conrad, 
you  know,  who  filled  his  place  when  he  was  ab- 
sent." 

Her  eyes  became  very  penetrating,  and  she 
was  about  to  reply,  when  Ralph  came  up  to  her 
and  took  her  arm  under  his  with  an  air  of 
ownership  that  meant  something.  Burlace  had 
Catalina ;  I  brought  up  the  rear.  Matters 
were  plainly  coming  to  a  head;  but  I  felt  by 
no  means  prepared  to  guarantee  that  the  head 
would  be  an  altogether  peaceable  and  agreeable 
one. 

We  arrived  at  the  wharf  at  the  same  time  as 
the  steamboat,  and  started  on  our  downward 
journey,  which  would  last  until  long  after 
dark.  We  succeeded  in  procuring  rooms  for 
the  ladies,  and  they  disappeared.  Burlace 
went  off  to  drink  a  glass  of  Schnapps  in  the 
cabin ;  and  Ralph  and  I  obtained  permission 
to  sit  and  smoke  in  the  engine-room,  where  the 
heat  from  the  furnace  made  us  steam  like  a 
laundry. 


76  The  Professor's  Sister. 

"  I  wish  we  had  stayed  at  home/'  I  re- 
marked, after  a  period  of  silence. 

"There  is  no  day  of  my  life  that  I  would  be 
willing  to  substitute  for  this,"  Ralph  returned, 
emphatically. 

"  Wait  until  you  hear  what  Conrad  has  to 
say  about  it,"  was  my  answer. 

He  smiled  and  said  :  "  You  think  yourself  a 
good  guesser." 

"I  suppose  you  have  already  obtained 
Madame  Hertrugge's  consent  ?  "  said  I. 

"Oh,  I  don't  care  to  make  a  secret  of  it,"  he 
returned,  leaning  his  head  on  his  hand  and  fix- 
ing his  gray  eyes  on  me.  "  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  I  shall  marry  the  loveliest  woman 
in  the  world.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  no 
need  to  make  it  a  matter  of  common  talk,  until 
the  preliminaries  are  settled." 

"And  until  her  year  of  widowhood  has 
expired." 

Her  year  of  widowhood !     What  the  mis* 
chief  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"Madame  ^Hertrugge's  husband  died  less 
than  a  year  ago." 

He  gave  me  a  keen  look.  "  What  is  your 
motive  in  suggesting  that  I  contemplate  marry- 
ing Madame  Hertrugge  ?  " 

"  Why  not  ?  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  you 
have  never  done  or  said  anything  to  lead  her  to 


The  Professor  s  Sister.  77 

think  that  she  was   not  indifferent  to  you  ?  " 

He  hesitated,  and  his  eyes  darkened.  "  You 
have  no  right  to  ask  the  question,"  he  replied 
at  length  ;  "  and  I  would  be  justified  in  parry- 
ing it.  But  I  prefer  to  admit  that  there  has 
been  a  moment  in  my  intercourse  with  her 
which  I  wish  could  be  wiped  off  the  record. 
As  to  marrying  her,  there  never  was  any 
question  of  that.  She  can't  marry." 

"Why  can't  she?" 

"  On  account  of  a  clause  in  her  husband's 
will." 

"  Oh !  He  forbids  her  to  marry  under  certain, 
penalties  ?  " 

"  If  she  marries  while  Hildegarde  is  still  un- 
married, she  forfeits  the  enjoyment  of  the  late 
Mr.  Hertrugge's  fortune." 

Here  was  a  whimsical  complication.  Cata- 
lina  could  not  marry  until  Hildegarde  was 
married.  But  since  it  was  Ralph  that  Catalina 
desired  to  marry,  and  since,  when  Hildegarde 
was  married  it  would  be  to  Ralph,  it  was 
evident  that  Catalina  would  never  marry  at  all. 

"  Love  may  be  secondary  to  money  in  her 
estimation,"  I  said. 

"  You  must  ask  her  about  that  yourself.  The 
will  also  allows  her  to  marry  in  the  event  of 
Hildegarde's  death." 

"  Mr.  Hertrugge  was  a  donkey,"  said  I. 


78  The  Professors  Sister. 

I  was  half  minded  to  tell  Ralph  what  I  had 
seen  that  afternoon.  Many  and  many  a  time 
since  have  I  regretted  that  J  did  not.  But  lie 
had  shown  himself  so  restive  under  my  ques- 
tions that  I  was  reluctant  to  meddle  any 
further ;  besides,  had  not  Hildegarde  under- 
gone her  peril  and  escaped?  But  what  a 
sinister  light  this  news  threw  upon  Catalina. 
It  was  hardly  doing  her  an  injustice  to  say  that 
probably  nothing  would  induce  her  to  give  up 
her  fortune  ;  she  had  married  on  old  trades- 
man of  seventy  to  obtain  it ;  and  she  was  of  a 
temperament  that  needs  wealth,  as  much  as 
other  people  need  air  and  water.  And  yet  she 
had  offered  herself  to  Ealph.  Nor  was  that 
the  worst.  Her  attempt  to  murder  Hilde- 
garde no  longer  appeared  as  simply  the  wild 
revenge  of  a  jealous  woman.  That  fool,  her 
late  husband,  had  deliberately  put  a  premium 
on  his  daughter's  death;  and  Catalina,  in  re- 
moving her,  would  have  combined  with  her  re- 
venge a  shrewd  stroke  of  business. 

"Shall  you*  remain  here  after  your  mar- 
riage ?  "  I  asked  presently. 

"I  shall  go  back  to  America." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "I  wish  you  joy  with  all  my 
heart,  and  I  think  the  sooner  you  are  married 
and  off  the  better." 

"Thank  you,"  said  Ealph.     "And  now    if 


The  Professor's  Sister.  79 

you  are  dry,  suppose  we  go  up  on  deck." 
It  was  a  lovely  evening.  Nothing  of  im- 
portance happened  during  our  journey.  Cata- 
linaand  Hildegarde  made  their  appearance  just 
before  our  arrival  at  Dresden ;  and  the  first 
person  we  saw  on  the  wharf  was  Conrad,  in 
flesh  and  blood. 


80  The  Professor  s  Sister. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
BUHLACE'S  LUCK. 

A  FEW  days  later,  as  I  was  sitting  in  my 
room,  with  the  implements  of  my  work  around 
me, — a  sheet  of  drawing-paper  stretched  on  a 
board,  a  saucer  of  Indian  ink,  a  box  of  drawing 
instruments,  and  a  set  of  calculations  for  the 
construction  of  toothed  wheel  gear, — with 
these,  and  a  volume  of  Heine's  "  Reisebilder  " 
(which  I  happened  to  be  studying  at  that  mo- 
ment, in  order  to  familiarize  n^self  with  the 
language), — there  came  a  loud  knock  "at  my 
door.  People  stamp  their  characters  upon 
everything  that  they  do ;  and  there  was  a  free- 
dom, a  self-opinionativeness,  and  a  lack  of  con- 
sideration for  the  feelings  of  others  about  this 
knock,  that  at  once  informed  me  who  was  out- 
side. I  closed  the  volume  of  Heine,  put  it 
under  a  pile  of  drawings,  took  up  my  drawing- 
pen,  dipped  it  in  the  Indian  ink,  and  said  : 

"  Come  in,  Burlace." 

He  had  already  turned  the  latch,  and  now 
he  bounded  in,  with  his  big  boots,  his  small 
cap,  his  pipe,  and  his  noisy  voice. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  81 

"  Sit  down,"  I  said,  in  a  preoccupied  voice. 

"Don't  hurry,  old  man,"  he  returned,  cheer- 
fully ;  "  IVe  got  the  afternoon  free." 

"Lucky  fellow  !"  said  I,  with  a  sigh.  "Now 
I've  got  work  enough  on  hand  to  occupy  me 
for  a  week." 

"  In  that  case,"  he  answered,  "  you  may  as 
well  call  a  halt  right  here.  You  work  too 
hard,  anyway.  I  believe,  if  it  wasn't  for  me, 
you  and  llalph  would  both  of  you  get  your 
brains  addled.  I  never  come  in  but  I  find  you 
grinding  awa}>-  as  if  you  were  on  the  track  of 
the  Philosopher's  Stone.  You  .make  a  big  mis- 
take. I  go  in  for  independent  thinking.  A 
book  is  only  a  man's  opinion,  after  all ;  and 
one  man's  opinion  is  as  good  as  another's,  and 
sometimes  a  little  better  ! " 

"  What  have  you  been  thinking  about  late- 
ly ?  "  I  inquired,  putting  down  my  pen. 

"I've  been  wondering,  for  one  thing,  what 
you  and  llalph  find  to  admire  in  that  fellow 
Conrad.  I  consider  him  a  beast." 

"And  his  step-mother,  too?" 

"  If  it's  all  the  same  to  you,"  said  Burlace, 
gruffly,  "  I  would  thank  you  not  to  insinuate 
anything  against  Madame  Hertrugge.  She  is 
without  exception  the  finest  and  most  intelli- 
gent woman  I  ever  met." 

"Intelligent,  is  she?" 


82  The  Professor's  Sister. 

"Well,  rather.  Why,  look  here!  I  am 
working  a  good  deal  just  now  in  the  direction 
of  investigating  the  origin  of  diseases,  with  a 
view  to  developing  the  theory  of  prevention  by 
inoculation.  It  will  be  proved,  some  day,  that 
contagious  and  epidemic  fevers,  cholera,  and  a 
lot  more  of  the  scourges,  are  the  work  of  micro- 
scopic germs  in  the  atmosphere  and  in  water. 
But  the  entire  subject  is  at  present  in  a  very 
obscure  condition,  and  some  of  the  best  men 
we  have,  who  ought  to  keep  their  minds  open, 
you'd  think,  are  still  too  timid  and  bigoted  to 
take  it  up." 

"  What  has  that  to  do  with  Madame  Her- 
trugge's  intelligence  ?  " 

"It  has  just  this  to  do  with  it:  that  I  hap- 
pened to  mention  the  subject  to  her  the  other 
day,  and  she  was  interested  in  it  at  once.  She 
asked  me  questions  that  would  have  done  credit 
to  an  expert ;  she  saw  the  point  of  all  my  ex- 
planations at  half  a  glance;  and  when  I  told 
her  some  of  the  results  of  microscopic  investi- 
gation, she  mafle  me  promise  that  I  would  let 
her  have  a  look  at  the  things  herself.  If  you 
don't  call  that  intelligence,  I'd  like  to  know 
what  you  do  call  it ! " 

"  I  might  find  another  name  for  it,  perhaps," 
said  I.  "  At  any  rate,  I  might  suggest  a  pre- 
disposing cause." 


The  Professor's  Sister.  83 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"No  harm,  I  assure  you.  But  you  know 
what  the  poet  says, — '  Love  lends  a  precious 
seeing  to  the  eye  !' ? 

"  What  right  have  you,  or  any  man,  to  as- 
sume that  I  am  in  love  with — with  anybody  ?  " 

"  It's  the  other  way,  my  dear  Burlace.  One 
can't  help  noticing  what  is  before  him ;  and 
you  must  be  aware  that  Madame  Hertrugge's 
preference  for  your  society  has  been  imper- 
fectly concealed,  to  say  the  least  of  it." 

At  this  Burlace's  large  mouth  relaxed,  and 
a  ruddy  hue  showed  itself  beneath  the  bristly 
growth  of  his  beard.  "Of  course,"  he  re- 
marked, "that  is  a  thing  I  can  say  nothing 
about.  A  disinterested  observer  would  see  more 
than  I  could.  Women  are  strange  beings; 
when  you  expect  most  of  them,  they  are  away 
off,  and  when  you  have  given  them  up,  round 
they  come  again.  But  I  suppose  there  are 
various  ways  of  intimating  the  same  thing, 
and  there  may  be  something  in  your  idea  that 
her  interest  is  quickened  by  a  favorable  regard 
for  me.  That  would  be  natural,  and  at  the 
same  time  it  would  detract  nothing  from  the 
fact  of  her  intelligence." 

"On  the  contrary,"  said  I,  laughing,  "her 
intelligence  is  sufficiently  vindicated  by  the 
fact  of  her  favorable  regard  for  you." 


84  The  Professor's  Sister. 

"  Look  here — if  you  are  chaffing  me " 

"  Nonsense,  Will,"  I  cried  out,  testily,  "  why 
shouldn't  I  chaff  you  ?  What  are  love-sick 
idiots  good  for  but  to  be  chaffed  ?  I  am  not 
in  love  with  your  Madame  Hertrugge,  nor  she 
with  me.  Do  you  expect  me  to  leave  my 
Heine — my  drawing,  I  mean — for  the  privilege 
of  listening  to  your  rhapsodies  ?  Why  don't 
you  go  and  talk  to  her  ?  You  began  by  call- 
ing a  friend  of  mine  a  beast,  and  now  you  want 
me  to  sing  the  chorus  to  your  amatory  drivel. 
I  am  not  tuned  to  that  key." 

Burlace  knocked  the  ashes  out  of  his  pipe  on 
my  table,  and  grinned.  "  That's  all  right,  old 
fellow,"  said  he.  "  You  certainly  have  been 
left  out  in  this  arrangement,  and  between 
Ralph  and  me,  you  come  to  the  ground.  Well, 
I'm  not  going  to  tantalize  you  with  the  spec- 
tacle of  my  good  fortune ;  but  when  I  say  that 
Conrad  is  a  beast,  I  mean  it.  If  he  doesn't 
look  out,  he  will  get  a  piece  of  my  mind  one  of 
these  days." 

"That  will  do  him  more  injury  than  any  of 
your  inoculations  for  physical  disease.  But  do 
empty  yourself  of  your  message,  if  you  have 
one,  and  leave  me  in  peace  ! " 

"That  fellow  Conrad,"  continued  Burlace, 
imperturbably,  "  actually  had  the  face  to  in- 
sult Madame  Hertrugge  in  my  presence.  He 


The  Professor's  Sister.  85 

told  her  to  remember  that  her  late  husband 
had  lived  long  enough  to  know  her  character ; 
and  that  however  much  her  disposition  might 
incline  her  to  play  fast  and  loose  with  other 
men,  the  terms  of  his  will  would  suffice  to  put 
them  on  their  guard  against  her.  What  do 
you  think  of  that?" 

"  It  was  pretty  plain  speaking.  What  did 
she  say  ?  " 

"  She  showed  the  dignity  and  self-possession 
that  only  a  lady  is  capable  of.  She  told  him 
that  she  valued  the  friendship  and  sympathy 
of  an  honest  man  more  than  any  consideration 
that  he  (Conrad)  was  capable  of  appreciating ; 
and  that  rather  than  have  her  free  actions 
misconstrued,  she  would  willingly  surrender 
what  he  was  pleased  to  call  a  check  upon  her 
liberty." 

"Do  you  know  to   what  Conrad  referred  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  at  the  time ;  but  she  told  me 
afterwards.  It  seems  that  senile  old  imbecile 
of  a  husband  of  hers  provided  in  his  will — " 

"  You  needn't  trouble  yourself  to  tell  me,"  I 
interposed  ;  "  I  know  it  already." 

"Oh,  you  do!  Conrad  has  been  warning 
you  off  the  premises  as  well."  «, 

"  I  never  exchanged  a  word  with  him  on  the 
subject." 

"  I  understand  ! "  said  Burlace,  after  staring 


86  The  Professor's  Sister. 

at  me  for  a  moment.  "  The  information  came 
from  our  friend  Ralph.  I've  nothing  against 
Ralph ;  he's  all  right.  And  if  he  carries  out 
his  intentions,  I  shall  be  under  obligations  to 
him.  You  know,  of  course,  that  as  soon  as  he 
becomes  the  husband  of  Miss  Hildegarde,  there 
will  be  nothing  to  hinder  Madame  Hert- 
rugge — " 

"  And  does  she  favor  the  match  ?  " 

"Of  course  she  does.  She  has  taken  pains 
to  become  acquainted  with  Ralph,  and  to  test 
his  character,  and  she  has  become  satisfied  that 
he  is  unobjectionable." 

"  I  haven't  noticed  that  she  has  taken  pains 
to  throw  the  young  people  together,  however," 
I  remarked. 

"  How  could  she,  stupid  ?  "  demanded  Bur- 
lace.  "  Don't  you  see  the  delicacy  of  her  posi- 
tion ?  If  she  were  to  appear  as  a  promoter  of 
the  affair,  wouldn't  Conrad  and  all  the  other 
fools  in  the  world  scream  out  that  she  was 
scheming  to  retain  her  fortune  ?  She  felt  it  to 
be  her  duty,  as*  Hildegarde's  only  friend  of  her 
own  sex,  to  investigate  the  character  of  any 
suitor  for  her  hand ;  but,  beyond  that,  she  was 
obliged  to  restrict  herself  to — what  they  call 
benevolent  neutrality ! " 

This  view  of  the  case  struck  me  as  being  so 
pathetically  ludicrous  that  I  could  not  help 


The  Professor's  Sister.  87 

laughing.  After  what  I  had  witnessed  at 
Schandau,  the  interpretation  of  Catalina's  be- 
havior as  "benevolent  neutrality"  was  inimi- 
table. "  I  should  have  thought,"  I  said,  "  that 
she  would  have  applied  to  you  for  a  certificate 
of  Ralph's  availability." 

"  That  happens  to  be  precisely  what  she  did," 
he  returned,  complacently.  "  I  told  her  that 
Ralph  was  a  trump  in  all  respects,  and  that  I 
was  convinced  that  he  and  Hildegarde  were 
born  for  each  other." 

«  You  did  !  " 

"  I  did ;  and  she  said — with  a  tone  and  look 
that  I  am  not  likely  to  forget  in  a  hurry — that 
she  had  perfect  confidence  in  my  judgment  and 
perception,  and  that  I  had  taken  a  load  of 
anxiety  off  her  heart." 

"Burlace,"  said  I,  "I'm  a  friend  of  yours; 
you  bore  me  horribly  sometimes,  but  I  like 
you,  and  if  I  knew  a  good  sensible  girl  whose 
happiness  and  well-being  I  wanted  to  insure,  I 
should  tell  her  to  get  you  to  marry  her.  And 
I  am  now  going  to  give  you  an  even  greater 
proof  of  my  friendship  for  you  by  doing  some- 
thing that  will  probably  make  you  my  enemy 
for  life." 

"  Go  on  ! "  returned  Burlace,  \vithout  evinc- 
ing, I  must  say,  any  violent  symptoms  of 
agitation. 


88  The  Professor's  Sister. 

11  Well,  I  advise  you  to  pack  up  your  trunks 
and  go  back  by  the  shortest  route  to  Chicago, 
and  to  forget  all  about  Germany  and  everybody 
you  ever  met  there.  As  sure  as  you  stay  here, 
you  will  get  into  the  worst  scrape  that  any 
honest  man  ever  got  himself  into  yet." 

Burlace  looked  at  me  intently  for  several 
moments.  My  tone  was  serious,  as  my  feeling 
was,  and  he  saw  it.  He  answered  me  with  a 
gravity  and  dignity  that  touched  me  not  a 
little. 

"  I'm  sorry  you  said  that,"  he  observed,  "  but 
I'm  not  your  enemy  for  it,  because  I  don't  be- 
lieve you're  the  man  to  talk  loosely  on  such  a 
subject.  You  meant  it  well ;  but — well — I 
love  that  lady,  and  if  any  harm  comes  to  me  on 
that  account,  I'm  ready  and  willing  to  take  it 
as  it  comes.  If  she  cares  for  me,  I  should  feel 
myself  so  lucky  that  a  misfortune  would  only 
put  things  straight.  But  if  you  have  anything 
against  her,  I  give  you  notice  that  I  will  not 
listen  to  it.  I  believe  in  her;  I  believe  there 
is  no  purer  or  better  woman  in  the  world  ;  and 
whoever  is  against  her  must  be  against  me — 
sorry  as  I  am  to  say  it  to  you,  old  man."  The 
voice  of  the  honest,  pig-headed  fellow  faltered 
at  the  last  words,  and  he  ostentatiously  began 
to  fill  his  pipe  and  hunt  in  impossible  places 
for  a  match. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  89 

I  felt  as  if  there  might  be  tears  in  my  own 
eyes.  My  affection  for  Burlace  had  never  been 
so  strong  as  it  was  then  ;  and  he  was  caught  in 
a  net  from  which  there  could  be  no  escape  that 
was  not  more  or  less  disastrous.  Catalina 
meant  to  use  him  as  a  tool  to  carry  out  her 
purposes  on  Hildegarde  and  Ralph.  What  her 
purposes  were,  or  how  she  would  employ  Bur- 
lace,  of  course  I  did  not  know,  but  I  could  not 
doubt  the  intention.  She  had  been  checked 
once  ;  she  would  profit  by  experience,  and  so 
devise  that  there  would  be  no  check  the  second 
time. 

It  would  be  useless,  in  Burlace's  present 
state  of  mind,  to  tell  him  the  story  of  my  hour 
in  the  camera  at  Schandau.  He  would  not 
credit  it,  even  if  he  consented  to  listen  to  it. 
I  could  only  keep  such  watch  as  circumstances 
permitted  on  her  future  movements.  But  even 
that  was  less  my  affair  than  either  Ralph's  or 
Conrad's.  There  were  probably  no  secrets  be- 
tween them,  and  they  would  take  such  meas- 
ures as  they  deemed  necessary 

It  sometimes  seems  as  if  we  could  help  one 
another,  in  this  world,  only  in  minor  and  insig- 
nificant matters.  When  the  real  pinch  comes, 
we  are  powerless,  and  can  only  observe  the  in- 
evitable approach  of  destiny. 


90  The  Professor's  Sister. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

A    DRAMATIC  TRIUMPH. 

IN  Germany,  the  ceremony  of  betrothal  is  an 
event  of  greater  social  importance  than  it  is 
here  ;  you  often  see  the  announcement  printed 
in  the  newspapers,  and  it  is  made  the  subject 
of  comment  and  congratulation  among  relatives 
and  friends.  There  is  something  pretty  and 
patriarchal  in  the  idea;  though,  society  not  be- 
ing quite  patriarchal  at  the  present  day,  I  am 
not  sure  that  the  results  are  especially  benefi- 
cient.  Privacy  is  sometimes  better  than  pic- 
turesqueness,  in  an  artificial  age. 

However  that  may  be,  the  news  of  the  be- 
trothal of  Hildegarde  Hertrugge  and  Ralph 
Merlin  was  made  known,  about  this  time,  to 
interested  persons ;  and  an  invitation  was 
issued  to  a  select  few  to  meet  the  young  people 
at  a  reception  given  at  Madame  Hertrugge's 
house.  I  received  a  card,  written,  a  little  to 
my  surprise,  by  Catalina  herself :  and  as  a 
matter  of  course  Burlace  was  there. 

This  was  the  nearest  approach  to  a  social 
estivity  that  had  been  given  at  the  house  since 


The  Professor's  Sister.  91 

Mr.  Hertrugge's  decease,  and  I  suppose  people 
were  anxious  to  see  how  the  widow  would  con- 
duct herself.  The  purport  of  the  late  husband's 
will  was  generally  known,  at  least  among  the 
nearer  friends  of  the  family,  so  there  may  also 
have  been  some  speculation  as  to  whether  the 
consequences  of  the  anticipated  marriage  were 
likely  to  be  availed  of  promptly,  or  whether 
the  handsome  Catalina  would  prefer  to  post- 
pone indefinitely  the  formation  of  fresh  ties. 
But  it  was  agreed  that  she  was  fortunate  in 
getting  released  so  early  from  what  must  have 
been  at  best  a  somewhat  annoying  stipula- 
tion. 

I  came  rather  late,  and  the  company  had 
already  assembled,  and  had  got  over  the  first 
formalities  and  uncertainties  of  the  situation. 
The  drawing-room  was  comfortably  filled ;  there 
were  a  number  of  officers,  with  the  air  of  im- 
maculate and  insolent  self-complacency  that  is 
the  general  characteristic  of  German  warriors, 
and  has  become  still  more  marked  since  the  war 
with  France  than  it  was  before;  there  were 
several  professors,  friends  of  Conrad,  and,  for 
the  most  part,  acquaintances  of  my  own ;  there 
were  a  few  nondescript  persons  of  the  male  sex, 
presumably  relatives  ;  there  were  a  dozen  or 
twenty  homely  women,  two  or  three  good-look- 
ing ones,  and  one  conspicuously  beautiful,  who, 


92  The  Professor's  Sister. 

1  need  not  say,  was  no  other  than  Catalina  her- 
self. 

As  for  ITildegarde  and  her  lover,  though  they 
were  in  the  unenviable  position  of  being  the 
cynosures  of  the  occasion,  they  did  not  seem  to 
mind  it  much ;  their  love  for  each  other  en- 
abled them  to  rise  superior  to  circumstances. 
They  stood  near  each  other,  as  we  ordinarily 
measure  distance,  yet  remote  enough  for  lovers, 
since  two  or  three  paces  and  twice  as  many 
people  intervened  between  them.  But  across 
this  gulf  of  time  and  space  they  ever  and  anon 
threw  a  proud  glance  at  each  other,  as  much  as 
to  say :  "  My  love,  I  am  yours  ;  the  world  can- 
not part  us  !  "  It  is  wonderful  and  delightful 
how  this  dawn  of  love  between  two  worthy 
human  beings  always  leads  them  back  to  pure, 
primitive  emotion,  so  that  they  are  sure  that 
they  are  the  first,  since  Adam  and  Eve,  to  dis- 
cover and  enter  the  vale  of  Paradise.  "No 
one  ever  loved  before  !  "  is  the  refrain  of  their 
thought ;  and,  indeed,  there  is  always  a  hope 
— a  possibility — that  now  at  last  the  time  may 
have  come  when  the  world,  and  our  sad  human 
life  in  it,  is  to  undergo  transfiguration,  and  be- 
gin again  with  those  two  lovers.  The  world 
grins  at  them  and  calls  them  silly;  but  the 
lovers  know,  with  the  deepest  and  soundest  of 
all  knowledge,  how  tragically  and  grotesquely 


The  Professor's  Sister.  93 

silly  is  the  grinning  world.  Merely  by  love, 
and  by  that  only,  can  all  the  problems  of  politi- 
cal economy,  all  the  abuses  of  society,  all  the 
miseries  of  mankind,  be  solved,  reformed,  alle- 
viated. "  Only  be  like  us,"  the  lovers  say, 
"  and  you  will  be  whole  !  "  The  world  grins  ; 
but  ah  !  how  glad  and  grateful  its  poor  old 
wizened  heart  would  be,  if  love  could  but 
gather  power  really  to  conquer  it  and  lead  it 
captive  !  You  may  know  that  this  is  true  by 
observing  the  eyes  of  elderly  people,  when  the 
little  hugging  arms  of  infancy  are  round  their 
necks ;  and  by  noticing  with  what  jealous  de- 
light the  world  follows  the  fortunes  of  any 
lovers  who  have  had  the  wisdom  to  be  silly  all 
their  lives.  The  victories  which  the  world  en- 
joys and  celebrates  are  never  its  own,  but 
always  those  of  its  opponents  over  itself. 

One  does  not  often  meet  with  a  pair  of  lovers 
having  a  more  assured  air  of  victory  than  Hil- 
degarde  and  "Ralph  wore  that  evening.  But 
Hildegarde  was  infinitely  the  more  attractive 
object  of  the  two,  not  only  because  she  appeared 
this  evening  in  the  consummate  flower  of  her 
maidenly  loveliness,  but  because  love,  for  her, 
was  a  self-surrender,  whereas  for  Ralph,  as  for 
all  men,  it  was  more  an  acquisition.  He 
adored  and  reverenced  her,  no  doubt ;  but  he 
was  also  conscious  of  the  pride  of  possession — 


94  The  Professor's  Sister. 

of  having  won  the  treasure  for  his  own,  to 
keep  and  defend  against  all  rivals.  Such  a 
feeling  in  its  final  analysis,  is  selfish.  But  in  the 
maiden's  love  there  is  no  selfishness.  Her  long- 
ing and  amhition  was  not  to  possess  him,  but  to 
be  possessed  by  him  ;  to  give  herself  to  him  so 
entirely  that  nothing  of  herself  should  be  left 
that  was  not  his,  and  him  !  Their  union  should 
mean,  not  a  linking  together,  but  the  merging 
of  herself  in  him.  She  grudged  herself  even 
the  happiness  that  his  love  wrought  in  her ; 
she  would  have  all  the  happiness  his,  but  could 
not  make  it  so,  because,  the  more  his  happiness 
was  increased,  the  happier  must  she  be.  So 
hers  was  the  divine  inspiration,  and  her  fair 
face  was  radiant  with  a  purer  light  than  can 
ever  shine  in  the  countenance  of  any  son  of 
Adam. 

She  was  dressed  in  feathery  white  ;  her  eyes 
had  the  soft,  mysterious  darkness  that  char- 
acterizes hazel  eyes  in  moments  of  deep  emo- 
tion. There  was  more  color  than  usual  in  her 
cheeks;  it  had  an  opaline  quality,  coming  and 
going  with  a  thought  or  a  look.  For  orna- 
ment she  wore  the  opal  ring  that  Ralph  had 
given  her, — an  exquisite  stone,  trembling  with 
celestial  fire.  But,  somehow,  it  made  me  sad  to 
look  at  her.  Life  was  not  what  she  thought  it 
was.  Many  cruel  sorrows  would  come  to  her, 


The  Professor's  Sister.  95 

and  the  light  that  was  in  her  eyes  to-night 
would  grow  faint  and  infrequent.  It  seemed 
almost  a  pity  that  the  attainment  of  such  felic- 
ity as  this  should  not  be  the  immediate  pre- 
lude to  what  those  who  do  not  love  call  death. 
The  valleys  of  shadow  through  which  we  walk 
do  not  always  give  strength.  Often,  they  be- 
numb and  bewilder,  and  only  a  forlorn  parody 
of  the  young  traveller  who  sets  forth  so  blithely 
arrives  at  last  on  the  shore  of  the  unknown 
river. 

I  took  Hildegarde's  hand  in  mine,  and  made 
my  formal  good  wishes  ;  but  she  seemed  far  off, 
not  from  any  voluntary  remoteness  on  her  part, 
but  because  I  did  not  inhabit  the  sphere  of  her 
existence.  As  for  Ralph,  his  measureless  con- 
tent was  trying  to  mere  friendship.  "I  hope 
you  don't  think  you  deserve  her,"  I  said  to  him. 

"  There  is  no  measure  for  measure  about  it," 
he  replied.  "  The  only  place  where  a  man  ap- 
proximately gets  his  deserts,  is  hell ;  and  he 
probably  imagines  even  that  to  be  heaven." 

"  What  is  heaven  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  The  marriage  of  the  good  and  the  true/7 
said  he.  "  It  is  the  marriage  that  makes 
heaven, — not  either  of  the  contracting  parties. 
That  is  where  my  chance  come  in." 

"You  had  better  say  nothing  ;  nothing  you 
can  say  fits  the  occasion." 


96  The  Professor's  Sister. 

""Which  occasion?  My  betrothal,  or  this 
reception  ?  " 

"True,"  I  admitted;  "and  I  am  in  the 
wrong  as  usual.  There  are  times  when  associ- 
ation with  one's  kind  is  almost  indecent.  If  a 
fairy  were  present  at  my  betrothal,  I  should  ask 
her  for  the  cup  of  invisibility." 

After  this  unsatisfactory  dialogue,  it  was  a 
pleasure  to  turn  to  Catalina.  There  was  no 
remoteness  in  her  sphere  ;  she  was  on  the  earth, 
and  of  it.  Her  behavior  was  exactly  what  it 
ought  to  be — assuming  the  situation  to  be  what 
it  externally  appeared.  She  was  pleased  at  her 
step-daughter's  happiness,  and  yet  there  were 
some  traces  of  solicitude  in  the  look  she  occa- 
sionally bent  upon  her,  as  if  she  were  not  yet 
quite  sure  that  all  was  for  the  best.  As  re- 
garded herself,  there  was  a  certain  reserve  of 
manner,  conveying  the  impression  that  she  was 
far  from  being  in  haste  to  claim  the  rights  of 
emancipation  that  Hildegarde's  marriage  would 
confer  upon  her,  but  rather  meant  to  substi- 
tute her  owA  volition  for  the  restraint  lately 
imposed  by  her  husband's  decree.  Her  mood, 
therefore,  was  one  of  cheerful  gravity  ;  gravity 
being  the  background,  and  cheerfulness  the 
outward  ornament. 

Inasmuch  as  she  had  struck  me,  when  I  first 
met  her,  as  being  one  of  the  most  elemental 


The  Professor's  Sister.  97 

persons  I  had  ever  seen, — a  woman  of  a  prime- 
val type,  experiencing  and  rejoicing  in  the 
strong  but  simple  passions  that  lie  at  the  basts 
of  human  nature, — I  was  hardly  prepared  to 
find  her  so  accomplished  in  dissimulation.  But, 
after  all,  dissimulation  is  itself  an  elemental 
trait.  Animals  dissimulate  to  gain  their  ends  ; 
the  bird  whose  nest  is  beneath  your  foot  tempts 
you  with  the  pretence  of  a  broken  wing,  and  the 
crocodile  lies  like  a  log  until  you  are  within 
reach  of  its  jaws.  Besides,  jealousy  and  re- 
venge are  quick  and  effective  teachers ;  and 
there  is  a  histrionic  quality  in  women  of  the 
Catalina  kind  which  facilitates  their  assump- 
tion of  sentiments  and  expressions  alien  to 
their  real  ones.  Catalina  was  evidently  a  natu- 
ral artist  in  this  respect. 

"Love  is  a  melancholy  spectacle,"  I  said  to 
her, — for  I  too  felt  impelled,  by  magnetic  sym- 
pathy perhaps,  to  reflect  her  dissimulation, — 
"  it  promises  so  much  and  performs  so  little. 
Would  you  be  willing  to  change  places  with 
that  poor  girl  ?  " 

"You  are  too  cynical,"  she  answered  with  a 
smile.  "  Any  woman  might  be  proud  and  glad 
to  be  loved  as  Ralph  loves  Hildegarde.  If  I 
were  melancholy,  it  would  be  because,  for  me, 
the  time  for  that  has  gone  by." 

"  I  would  not  hear  your  enemy  say  so  ! "  r§- 


98  The  Professor's  Sister. 

turned  I.  "  If  you  have  no  more  to  do  with 
love,  it  is  you  who  must  have  decreed  the  es- 
trangement. And/'  I  added  with  an  audacity 
that  I  myself  could  not  but  admire,  "  had  I 
possessed  Ralph's  mysterious  faculty  for  win- 
ning hearts,  I  should  have  chosen  the  perfect 
flower,  rather  than  stand  the  hazard  of  the  bud." 

"  If  you  possessed  the  gift,  possibly  it  would 
amend  your  judgment,"  she  said,  sending  out 
a  gleam  of  genuine  anger  from  her  black  eyes. 
Then,  with  a  sudden  change  of  tone  and  man- 
ner, she  touched  my  hand  lightly  with  hers, 
and  added,  "  Love  me,  if  you  will ;  and  we  will 
learn  wisdom  from  each  other." 

Mockery  though  it  was,  it  made  me  realize 
her  seductive  power.  "  I  am  afraid  !  "  I  said, 
smiling. 

"  Afraid  !  of  what  ?  " 

"  That  you  would  lead  me  to  the  edge  of  the 
precipice  and  push  me  over." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  she,  slowly.  We  looked  at  each 
other  for  a  long  moment.  "Why  not  push  me 
over?"  she  asked  at  length,  "you  are  the 
stronger." 

"  But  is  there  any  need  ?  "  I  returned. 

"Ah  !  "  she  said  again,  in  a  different  key. 

Burlace  was  always  hovering  in  her  neigh- 
borhood, and  at  this  moment  he  approached, 
probably  in  response  to  some  private  signal. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  99 

She  turned  from  me,  and  I  moved  away.  I 
had  not  intended  to  quarrel  with  her,  and  no 
benefit  to  anyone  was  likely  to  come  from  our 
little  bout ;  but  the  truth  was,  these  attacks  of 
mine  were  prompted  by  an  instinct  of  self-de- 
fense against  the  influence  she  exerted  over 
me.  I  am  not  considered  generally  suscep- 
tible ;  but  I  felt  a  peril  in  her  propinquity,  and 
gave  up  Burlace  for  lost. 

"  All  goes  merry  as  a  marriage  bell,  Pro- 
fessor," I  said  to  Conrad,  seating  myself  beside 
him  on  a  settee.  "  What  think  you  ?  Will 
the  example  prove  contagious  ?"  and  I  allowed 
my  eyes  to  rest  meditatively  on  Burlace. 

"  Your  acuteness  is  greater  than  your  judg- 
ment," said  he.  "  Some  people  can  be  fright- 
ened into  harmlessness ;  but  veiled  threats, 
which  you  are  so  given  to  employing,  only 
stimulate  others  to  more  dangerous  activity. 
Pardon  my  frankness ;  but  I  have  a  difficult 
affair  on  my  hands,  and  a  rash  word,  however 
well  meant,  might  set  the  odds  too  much 
against  me.  You  understand  me,  don't  you  ?  " 

"  In  your  present  sense,  perhaps  ;  but —  " 

"  Well,  never  mind  the  other  senses,"  he  in- 
terrupted. "  Did  I  ever  tell  you  that  the  tele- 
gram I  received  the  other  day,  summoning  me 
to  Freiberg,  was  a  deception.  The  emergency 
it  spoke  of  was  a  pure  invention.'7 


100  The  ^Professor's  lister. 

«  Who— " 

"  No  matter  who  sent  it.  I  mentioned  it  be- 
cause you  may  have  some  reason  to  think  that 
I  am  able  to  act  effectively  in  predicaments  that 
would  find  other  men  helpless.  I  don't  deny 
that  such  may  sometimes  be  the  case.  But  at 
other  times,  perhaps  quite  as  important,  I  am 
as  liable  to  be  caught  napping  as  the  stupidest 
man  you  know.  If  I  had  been  clever  enough 
to  see  through  the  telegram,  for  example,  there 
would  have  been  no  necessity  for  the  phenom- 
enon that  occurred  afterwards." 

This  was  the  first  time  that  anything  had 
passed  between  me  and  this  extraordinary  man 
on  the  subject  of  the  apparition  at  Schandau. 
Indeed,  I  had  not  spoken  of  it  to  any  one  ;  and 
if  I  was  not  surprised  that  he  nevertheless 
knew  what  I  had  seen,  it  was  only  because 
nothing  in  which  he  was  concerned  could  sur- 
prise me. 

"You  will  not  object  to  Ralph's  taking  her 
to  America  as  soon  as  they  are  married  ?  "  said 
I,  letting  the  mysteries  go. 

"  Let  us  get  them  married  first,"  he  replied, 
and  even  as  he  spoke  there  was  a  commotion  and 
then  a  cry,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  room.  Every 
one  rose ;  but  Conrad  had  already  made  his 
way  to  the  centre,  whither  all  attention  was 
strained.  When  I  got  there  I  found  him  with 


The  Professor's  Sister.  101 

his  hand  on  Hildegarde's  pulse.  She  was  re- 
clining, half  supported  by  Kalph.  Her  eyes 
were  partly  open,  but  she  was  evidently  un- 
conscious. 

"  It  is  the  excitement — she  has  fainted," 
said  Catalina's  voice  close  to  my  ear.  I  turned 
sharply  and  saw  the  profile  of  that  beautiful 
face,  as  she  gazed  steadily  at  the  pale,  inani- 
mate girl.  "  Bring  her  to  my  own  room,"  she 
said,  quietly.  "  I  will  take  care  of  her.  It 
will  soon  be  over." 

"  Not  so  soon  as  you  think  ! "  said  Conrad, 
looking  up  at  her.  A  green  light  seemed  to 
flash  out  from  his  eyes,  and  his  thin  lips  receded 
slightly  from  his  white  teeth,  in  a  grimace  that 
cannot  be  described  as  a  smile.  If  Catalina's 
sentence  had  borne  a  double  meaning,  so  did 
his  rejoinder,  and  the  two  foes  had  joined 
battle. 

The  sympathetic  bystanders  saw  only  an 
episode  familiar  enough  in  ball-rooms,  rendered 
a  little  more  interesting  than  common  by  the 
fact  that  the  young  lady  who  had  fainted  was 
she  in  honor  of  whose  betrothal  they  were  as- 
sembled. They  murmured  their  compassion 
for  her,  and  for  her  handsome  lover.  But 
Ralph,  after  the  first  few  moments,  had  be- 
come as  cold  and  impassive  as  marble, — as  if 
he  had  read  the  fateful  writing  on  the  wall,  and 


102  The  Professor's  Sister. 

interpreted  it.  His  gaze  was  bent  with  in- 
tense concentration  upon  Hildegarde's  face  ; 
one  would  have  said  that  he  was  willing  his 
own  life  to  substitute  itself  for  hers.  But  he 
was  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  world ;  noth- 
ing coming  thence  could  reach  him. 

"  She'll  come  too  all  right ;  give  her  air  and 
a  whiff  of  hartshorn ! "  cried  out  Burlace,  en- 
couragingly. "  Don't  you  fret,  old  man  ;  there's 
no  danger ! " 

"  Poor  hoy  ! "  murmured  Catalina,  with  a 
secret  smile,  "  it  was  a  shame  to  spoil  his  happy 
evening.  It  was  so  pretty  to  see  their  delight 
in  each  other ! " 

Ralph  rose  to  his  feet,  lifting  Hildegarde 
lightly  in  his  arms ;  the  throng  of  spectators 
fell  back,  and  he  carried  her  out  of  the  room, 
accompanied  by  Conrad.  Burlace  was  about  to 
accompany  them,  when  Catalina  arrested  him 
by  a  glance. 

"  We  won't  make  too  much  fuss  about  it," 
she  said,  speaking  partly  to  him  and  partly  to 
the  company.'  "  My  step-daughter  is  accus- 
tomed to  these  attacks  ;  she  is  delicate,  and 
studied  too  hard  in  the  convent.  She  will  be 
as  well  as  ever  to-morrow,  and  her  brother  and 
Ralph  are  quite  competent  to  take  care  of 
her." 

"  I  trust    it   will    prove    as   unimportant   as 


The  Professor's  Sister.  103 

Madame  Hertrugge  thinks,"  observed  one  of 
the  professors,  beside  whom  I  happened  to  be 
standing.  "  At  the  same  time  it  did  not  ap- 
pear to  me  like  an  ordinary  fainting  fit.  A 
new  disease  has  been  diagnosed  lately,  very 
obscure  and  difficult  in  its  features ;  it  is  her- 
alded by  abrupt  spells  of  unconsciousness,  ac- 
companied by  certain  peculiar  symptoms,  which 
I  seemed  to  recognize  in  the  present  case.  We 
are  endeavoring  to  investigate  its  origin  by 
the  aid  of  the  microscope  ;  but,  so  far,  with- 
out any  very  satisfactor}'-  results.  If  one  could 
only  make  experiments  on  the  human  subject  ! 
I  wish  some  disposition,  looking  that  way, 
could  be  made  of  criminals  convicted  of  capital 
offences.'' 

"  Is  the  disease  you  speak  of  fatal  ?  "  I  en- 
quired. 

"  No  cure  has  yet  been  discovered,"  he  re- 
plied. "  Its  duration  is  from  two  to  three 
days.  It  appears  to  be  painless,  and  produces 
little  or  no  change  in  the  extern :il  aspect  of 
the  subject,  nor  has  dissection  yet  afforded  any 
conclusive  evidence  as  to  the  precise  cause  of 
death  in  the  circumstances." 

The  guests  were  taking  their  leave.  Catalina 
was  bidding  them  good-bye,  with  a  comfortable 
smile  and  cheery  word  for  each.  "What  a 
woman  she  is  !  "  I  heard  someone  say.  "  She  is 


104  The  Professor's  Sister. 

much  more  anxious  about  that  poor  girl  than 
she  pretends  ;  hut  she  will  not  allow  her  guests 
to  be  discomposed  !  " 

At  last,  my  time  came  to  say  good-night. 

"What!"  exclaimed  Catalina,  smilingly, 
"are  you,  too,  going  to  allow  yourself  to  be 
frightened  away  ?  I  shall  owe  Hildegarde  a 
grudge  for  this  ! " 

"  You  must  permit  me  to  say  that  you  have 
managed  this  affair  admirably,"  I  returned. 
"  It  has  been  an  artistic  and  personal  success. 
And  yet — there  are  so  many  slips  between  the 
cup  and  the  lip — I  hardly  know  whether  my 
congratulations  may  not  be  even  now  prema- 
ture. Have  you  no  misgivings  ?  " 

"  Come  to-morrow  !  "  she  said,  holding  out 
her  hand. 

I  took  her  hand.  It  was  warm,  firm  and 
soft.  Her  eyes  were  clear,  composed,  t^iumph- 
ant.  She  felt  no  remorse,  still  less  any  fear. 
She  was  perfectly  natural.  She  had  met  with 
an  obstacle,  and  she  had  removed  it.  She  had 
suffered  a  rebuff,  and  she  had  requited  it.  All 
is  fair  in  love  and  war. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  I  saw  her  again, 
and  under  very  different  circumstances.  But, 
among  all  the  times  and  phases  in  which  I  have 
seen  her,  the  picture  of  her  in  my  memory  as 
she  appeared  at  this  moment,  remains  most 


The  Professor's  Sister.  105 

distinct.  It  was  the  most  characteristic  ;  there 
was  more  in  it  than  in  any  other,  of  the  real 
woman  that  she  was.  Poisonous  serpents,  when 
they  are  most  deadly,  appear  most  beautiful, 
graceful  and  natural.  They  were  made  to 
inflict  destruction. 


The  Professor's  Sister. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    PENTAGON. 

I  CALLED  at  the  Hartrugge's  house  on  the  fol- 
lowing day,  to  inquire  as  to  the  condition  of 
Hildegarde,  and  was  informed  by  the  servant 
that  she  was  still  in  bed.  I  saw  none  of  the 
inmates,  and  as  Ralph  was  not  to  be  found  in 
his  own  lodgings,  I  inferred  that  he  also  was 
with  her.  I  then  attempted  to  get  hold  of 
Burlace,  but  although  I  had  good  grounds  for 
believing  that  he  was  in  his  room  when  I  went 
to  see  him,  his  presence  was  denied  at  the  door. 
Nothing  remained  but  to  wait  for  news  to  come 
to  me. 

On  the  evening  of  the  third  day,  as  I  was 
standing  on  the  old  bridge  that  connects  the 
Altstadt  with»the  Neustadt,  looking -down  at 
the  current  which  eddies  forever  against  the 
stone  abutments,  some  one  entered  the  little 
semi-circular  recess  that  I  occupied,  and  stood 
beside  me. 

I  looked  up  at  him — it  was  Ralph — and  was 
about  to  ask  him  how  Hildegarde  was,  but  his 


The  Professor's  Sister.  107 

face  apprised  me  that  a  calamity  haa  hap- 
pened. 

"  She  is  dead/7  he  said,  after  a  moment, 
"  and  I  am  on  my  way  to  London.  I  do  not 
care  to  stay  for  the  funeral." 

"  What  did  she  die  of  ?  "  I  asked,  mechanic- 
ally. 

"Of  a  disease  affecting  the  circulation.  I 
believe  it  has  not  been  classified  yet.  Among 
the  many  new  inventions  nowadays,  there  are 
some  new  diseases." 

"  But  it  is  recognized  as  a  disease  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  How  did  she  get  it  ?  " 

"  As  she  might  have  got  a  cold,  or  the  small- 
pox. By  the  act  of  God,  as  the  lawyers  would 
say.'1 

"What  shall  you  do  in  London  ?  " 

"  Go  to  a  hotel,  I  suppose.  I  have  no  plans. 
There  is  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  wait.  How 
to  make  the  time  pass  most  quickly  is  the  ques- 
tion. It  is  becoming  tedious  already." 

"  How  are  Conrad  and — "  I  hesitated. 

"  Conrad  and  Catalina  are  very  well,  I 
believe,"  he  answered,  speaking,  as  he  had 
done  from  the  first,  in  an  apathetic  and  listless 
tone,  as  of  a  man  physically  and  mentally 
weary,  but  no  longer  a  prey  to  any  emotion. 
He  added  presently,  "  Catalina  had  no  reason 


108  The  Professor's  Sister. 

to  be  my  friend,  or  Hildegarde's  either ;  but  I 
am  bound  to  say  she  has  been  kind  and  sym- 
pathetic throughout.  Conrad  seems  to  dislike 
her ;  but  her  only  fault,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  is 
that  she  is  herself,  and  that  is  one  common  to 
all  of  us.'7 

We  leaned  side  by  side  upon  the  stone  para- 
pet, looking  down  at  the  stream.  I  did  not 
think  it  expedient  to  make  any  remarks 
"proper  to  the  occasion."  Hildegarde  was 
dead ;  Ralph's  life  was  a  blank ;  I  was  sorry. 
We  both  knew  these  facts,  and  talking  about 
them  would  benefit  neither  of  us.  What  he 
had  said  about  Catalina  had  evidently  been 
sincerely  meant,  but  it  surprised  me.  For 
though  it  was  true  that  I  had  never  told  him 
of  her  attempted  crime  at  Schandau,  yet  I  had 
not  expected  Conrad  to  be  as  reticent ;  and  if 
he  had  known  that,  he  would  scarcely  have 
failed  to  suspect  her  hand  in  this  case  also. 
Why  had  not  Conrad  told  him  ?  Did  Conrad 
himself  acquit  her  ?  I  could  not  believe  it ; 
his  silence  must  have  had  some  motive  which  I 
was  not  in  a  position  to  understand.  At  all 
events,  since  he  had  not  spoken,  I  had  no  cue 
to  speak. 

I  contented  myself,  therefore,  with  making 
some  suggestions  looking  towards  my  joining 
him,  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  in  London. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  109 

I  had  previously  made  up  my  mind  to  leave 
Dresden  after  he  and  Hildegarde  were  married. 
I  had  spent  over  three  years  in  somewhat  des- 
ultory studies,  and  I  did  not  care  to  remain 
after  my  chief  friend  had  departed.  Ralph 
made  no  objection  to  the  proposal,  though 
neither  did  he  profess  any  particular  gratifica- 
tion at  it.  His  ailment  at  present  was  in- 
ability to  care  for  anything.  Our  talk,  fre- 
quently interrupted  by  silences,  drifted  into 
generalities,  and  finally  he  roused  himself  and 
said  he  must  be  going.  Curiosity  prompted  me 
to  say,  at  the  last  moment,  "  Are  you  sorry 
that  you  met  her  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  said  slowly.  "  I  shall  meet  her 
again.  I  feel  no  absolute  separation  ;  if  I  die, 
I  shall  accommodate  myself  to  it.  The  convic- 
tion that  our  parting  is  only  temporary  makes 
it  easier  to  bear  in  one  way — the  higher  way  ; 
but  harder  in  another.  As  it  is,  I.  count  the 
days  ;  but  one  does  not  count  towards  eter- 
nity." 

"And  are  you  no  more  inclined  than  you 
were  to  try  the  resources  of  Spiritism  ?  " 

He  shook  his  head.  "  I  certainly  don't  wish 
to  have  Hildegarde  parodied  by  the  first  wan- 
dering disembodied  courtesan  who  happens  to 
scent  my  bereavement.  That  would  be  the 
way  to  lose  her.  As  long  as  I  keep  her  image 


110  The  Professor's  Sister. 

sacred  in  my  soul,  I  am  safe ;  but  if  I  allow  it 
to  be  manipulated  and  polluted  by  sensual  im- 
postors— I  might  as  well  have  cast  her  living 
body  before  a  herd  of  swine." 

"  But  what  if  there  be  no  future  life  ?  "  I 
persisted. 

"  Then  there  is  no  life  at  all.  And  if  our 
belief  that  there  is  a  life  here  be  an  illusion, 
then  it  would  be  only  reasonable  to  expect  the 
illusion  to  continue  after  the  illusion  of  death. 
I  have  no  anxieties  on  that  score." 

We  shook  hands,  and  went  our  several  ways. 
I  saw  him  cross  the  bridge,  with  his  measured, 
but  elastic  step,  and  a  slight  swing  of  his 
shoulders  from  side  to  side,  that  would  have  re- 
vealed him  to  me  among  a  thousand.  Gradu- 
ally the  throng  on  the  sidewalk  intervening, 
rendered  him  indistinguishable ;  and  1  plodded 
home  in  low  spirits,  and  with  gloomy  forebod- 
ings. 

I  do  not  belong  to  that  numerous  and  re- 
spectable class  who  derive  a  certain  gentle  satis- 
faction from  funerals.  When  my  friends  die, 
I  would  rather  think  of  them  as  they  were,  and 
as  I  hope  and  believe  they  are,  than  associ- 
ate them  with  any  thought  of  the  effigy  in  the 
undertaker's  box.  Accordingly,  I  made  up 
my  mind  not  to  go  to  Hildegarde's  funeral ; 
Kalph  himself  had  avoided  the  dismal  cere- 


The  Professor's  Sister.  Ill 

inony,  and  I  had  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Con- 
rad would  notice  my  absence,  or  be  flattered 
should  I  be  present.  Moreover,  I  did  not  like 
the  idea  of  meeting  Catalina  there ;  whether 
her  look  should  be  undisguised  triumph,  or  of 
hypocritical  grief,  it  would  be  equally  unlovely. 
So  I  sent  a  note  to  Conrad,  saying  that  I 
should  be  out  of  town  on  the  day  of  the  sol- 
emnity, and  expressing  the  regret  I  sincerely 
felt  at  his  sister's  death. 

To  my  surprise,  he  appeared  at  my  lodgings 
the  next  morning.  He  seemed  in  his  usual 
spirits,  and,  indeed,  imported  a  lightsome  tone 
into  the  conversation  that  struck  somewhat 
discordantly  on  my  ear. 

"  Unless  you  really  have  business  that 
demands  your  absence  from  town  to-morrow, 
my  dear  fellow,"  said  he,  "  don't  think  it 
necessary  to  go  on  this  account.  Believe  me, 
I  fully  understand  your  reluctance  to  put  in 
an  appearance  on  the  occasion  ;  if  I  had  my 
way,  I  would  willingly  omit  the  ceremony,  al- 
together. If  people  believe  in  a  future  life, 
they  ought  to  be  glad,  instead  of  sorry,  at  the 
death  of  a  friend  ;  or  if  they  feel  a  selfish  sor- 
row, they  ought,  as  Christians,  to  suppress  the 
exhibition  of  it.  If  on  the  other  hand  they 
believe  that  death  finally  ends  all,  what  is  the 
use  of  lamenting  the  irrevocable  ?  Let  them 


112  The  Professor's  Sister. 

put  it  out  of  their  minds  as  promptly  as  pos- 
sible, lest  they  invite  the  unpleasant  reflection 
that  they  themselves  will  soon  be  blotted  out 
of  existence  also." 

"I  am  not  altogether  of  your  way  of  think- 
ing," I  replied,  "  It  is  right  to  pay  respect  to 
the  memory  of  the  dead.  We  would  desire  it 
when  our  own  times  comes." 

"  Ah,  that  is  the  point !  "  exclaimed  Conrad, 
smiling.  "  Stroke  me,  and  I'll  stroke  you ! 
But  how  absurd  it  is  !  Of  what  avail  to  your 
dead  flesh  and  bones  will  my  conventional 
respect  be — or  any  other  respect  for  that  mat- 
ter ?  As  for  your  soul,  if  you  concede  your- 
self a  soul,  it  will  have  other  things  to  claim 
its  attention  than  the  length  of  its  earthly  ac- 
quaintances' faces,  and  the  breadth  of  their  hat- 
bands. No  !  the  whole  business  is  the  remains 
of  a  savage  superstition,  to  the  effect  that  the 
ghosts  of  the  dead  haunted  the  scene  of  their 
corporeal  existence,  and  executed  vengeance 
upon  those  who  failed  to  express  a  proper 
poignancy  of  £rief  at  their  departure.  Given 
the  superstition,  the  ceremony  was  at  least  intel- 
ligible ;  but  that  it  should  survive  the  super- 
stition is  idiotic !  " 

"  Possibly  the  superstition  had  some  basis 
in  fact,"  I  remarked. 

He  gave  me  a   peculiar,    quick    glance,    the 


The  Professor's  Sister.  113 

significance  of  which  I  did  not  comprehend. 
It  was  as  if  he  were  questioning  how  far  I 
spoke  seriously. 

"  That,  at  any  rate,  is  not  the  prevailing  im- 
pression," he  returned  presently,  "  nor  does  it 
seem  likely,  on  the  face  of  it,  that  the  ghost 
of  Hildegarde  could  make  itself  very  terrible 
to  anybody." 

I  made  no  answer,  and,  after  a  pause,  he 
said,  "  However,  I  didn't  come  here  to  discuss 
funerals  in  the  abstract,  but  to  beg  a  little 
favor  of  you." 

"  I  shall  be  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  doing 
you  one." 

"  It  is  simply  to  walk  over  to  my  house  with 
me  for  a  moment.  I  have  something  I  par- 
ticularly want  to  show  you.  No  !  "  he  added, 
with  another  smile,  "you  will  not  see  my 
beloved  step-mother.  Her  grief  is  far  too 
absorbing  to  admit  of  her  being  visible  even  to 
you.  So — will  you  come  ?  " 

I  put  on  my  hat  and  accompanied  him  to  his 
house.  Opening  the  door  with  his  pass-key, 
he  conducted  me  through  a  passage  to  another 
door,  on  passing  through  which  I  found  my- 
self in  his  study. 

I  had  never  before  been  admitted  to  this 
room,  and  I  looked  round  me  with  some 
curiosity.  It  was  singularly  bare  of  the 


114  The  Professor's  Sister. 

ordinary  appurtenances  to  the  retreat  of  a 
student.  There  was  not  a  single  book  to  be 
seen  anywhere,  nor  any  writing  materials. 
The  walls  were  of  plaster,  tinted  a  dull  red ; 
no  pictures  decorated  them,  but  in  their  stead 
there  were  sundry  geometrical  diagrams  drawn 
with  black  and  white  lines.  They  conveyed 
no  meaning  to  my  mind.  The  ceiling  was 
blue,  of  the  same  tone  as  the  walls ;  and  there 
were  waving  lines  of  some  obscure  pattern 
traced  on  it.  On  a  table,  poised  upon  a  slender 
stand,  stood  what  I  at  first  took  to  be  a  solid 
sphere  of  crystal ;  it  was  in  reality  a  spherical 
globe,  filled  with  a  transparent  liquid,  from 
which,  occasionally,  proceeded  rays  of  pure 
azure  light.  The  plan  of  the  room  was  a 
pentagon.  On  the  floor  at  the  north  end  was  a 
block  of  solid  metal,  apparently  iron ;  it  also 
was  pentagonal  in  shape,  and  a  yard  in  di- 
ameter and  a  foot  in  thickness.  From  the 
ceiling  directly  above  it  was  suspended  the 
largest  horse-shoe  magnet  I  ever  saw.  A  half- 
open  cupboard  revealed  some  steel  and  silver 
instruments,  some  glass  tubes  and  retorts,  and 
several  bottles  of  various  sizes  containing 
colored  liquids.  Finally,  the  angle  of  the 
eastern  corner  of  the  room  was  concealed  by  a 
voluminous  curtain  of  black  velvet;  and  in  the 
western  angle,  behind  the  glass  sphere,  was  a 


The  Professor's  Sister.  115 

full-length  plate  mirror,  in  a  broad  black  frame. 

"  Now  we  are  at  home  !  "  observed  Conrad, 
closing  the  door  behind  me.  "No  one  can 
enter  here  without  my  consent.  You  may  say 
that  nobody  would  care  to  on  any  terms ;  but 
I  can  be  pretty  comfortable  here,  in  my  own 
way,  when  I  choose.  Sit  down  and  try  a 
cigarette.  I  will  be  ready  in  a  moment." 

He  passed  behind  the  black  curtain  as  he 
spoke,  and  I  seated  myself  in  a  chair  and  lit 
one  of  the  cigarettes  he  had  offered  me, 
wondering  the  while  what  his  object  could 
have  been  in  bringing  me  there.  But  the 
flavor  of  the  cigarette  was  highly  agreeable ;  it 
had  an  effect  upon  the  mind  at  once  soothing 
and  clarifying.  I  have  sometimes  awakened 
in  the  hour  before  dawn  and  found  my  intel- 
lectual faculties  in  a  similarly  calm  and  potent 
state.  The  smoke  from  the  burning  tobacco, 
rising  in  the  still  air  of  the  room,  was  drawn  by 
imperceptible  currents  into  strangely  graceful 
lines  and  figures,  recalling  those  which  the 
stricken  chords  of  a  piano  produce  in  fine  sand, 
sifted  over  a  sheet  of  paper  and  placed  within 
the  instrument.  I  remember  ascribing  the 
phenomenon  at  the  time  to  some  subtle  influ- 
ence proceeding  from  the  great  magnet. 

I  sat  with  my  head  thrown  back  against  the 
cushioned  chair,  abstractedly  watching  these 


116  The  Professor's  Sister. 

shifting  forms,  until  I  could  almost  imagine 
that  they  were  observing  some  intelligible 
principle  in  their  movements.  I  was  just  in 
the  mood  to  weave  some  fanciful  extravaganza 
upon  the  notion,  when  my  attention  was  di- 
verted by  Conrad's  voice,  and  looking  round,  I 
saw  him  standing  beside  the  curtain,  with  his 
hand  upon  it.  He  beckoned  me  to  approach. 
I  rose  and  went  to  him  at  once,  and  passing 
behind  the  fold  of  the  curtain  that  he  held  aside 
for  me,  I  found  myself  in  a  sort  of  shrine, 
lighted  in  some  manner  not  obvious  to  me,  but 
with  a  very  soft  and  pleasing  radiance.  This 
radiance  was  concentrated  on  a  sofa,  set  against 
the  wall  ;  and  on  the  sofa,  clad  in  the  same 
feathery  white  dress  that  she  had  worn  at  her 
betrothal  party,  lay  the  figure  of  Hildegarde, 
asleep. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  117 


CHAPTER  X. 

LIFE    AND    DEATH. 

"  WHAT  have  you  done  ? "  I  exclaimed, 
with  an  involuntary  impulse,  turning  from 
this  spectacle  to  gaze  in  Conrad's  face.  I  felt 
as  if  I  had  been  unawares  entrapped  into 
assisting  at  some  uncanny  exhibition  of  necro- 
mancy. 

Conrad's  green  eyes  sparkled.  "  After  life's 
fitful  fever,  she  sleeps  well,  does  she  not  ?  "  he 
said,  in  an  ironic  tone.  "What  disturbs  you, 
my  dear  fellow  ?  Have  you  ever  seen  a  more 
beautiful  cadaver?" 

"  Is  this  Hildegarde,  or  an  image  ?  "  said  I. 
I  had  been  greatly  startled,  and  I  believe  there 
was  an  idea  in  my  mind  that  Conrad  had  made 
an  effigy  of  his  sister  in  wax.  Either  that,  or 
some  mystery. 

He  gave  a  slow  laugh.  "  That  is  the  ques- 
tion that  divides  critical  opinion  at  present,"  he 
replied.  "  Is  this  all  there  is  left  when  we  die  ? 
or  is  it  but  an  image  of  what  has  been  ?  What 
think  you  ?  " 

I  looked  more  steadily  at  the  figure,  and 
finally,  overcoming  my  first  reluctance,  bent 


118  The  Professor's  Sister. 

down  and  examined  it.  There  could  be  no 
doubt  that  it  was  no  waxen  image,  but  simply 
the  dead  body  of  Hildegarde,  neither  more  nor 
less.  It  lay  in  so  natural  a  pose,  however,  and 
the  illusion  of  quiet  sleep  was  so  perfect,  that 
I  could  not  help  expecting  to  see  the  bosom 
rise  in  a  long  breath,  and  the  great  eyes  open. 
But  the  dead  never  return  to  life,  though  it 
sometimes  seems  as  if  they  easily  might. 

u  The  difference  is  not  so  great,  after  all," 
remarked  Conrad,  replying,  as  he  often  did,  to 
my  thought  instead  of  to  anything  I  had  said. 
"She  seems  to  sleep;  and.  if  you  imagine  that  it 
is  sleep  and  nothing  more,  does  it  not  amount  to 
the  same  thing  ?  " 

"  You  had  -better  ask  Ealph  that  question," 
I  replied. 

"  Ralph  is  not  ready  yet  to  be  philosophical," 
said  he,  smiling.  "He  was  inclined  to  be  ex- 
travagant in  his  first  demonstrations,  and  it 
was  for  that  reason  that  I  persuaded  him  to 
leave  at  once.  When  the  first  shock  is  over, 
he  will  be  safe ;  and  then  he  can  return  and 
look  at  her  without  risk." 

"  He  has  no  thought  of  returning,"  I  said, 
"  and  even  if  he  did,  the  body  would  be  in  its 
grare,  and  decay  have  set  in." 

"  There  will  be  no  decay  in  this  case,"  re- 
turned Conrad.  "I  have  made  a  pretty  thor- 


The  Professors  Sister.  119 

ough  study  of  the  science  of  embalming,  and  I 
can  affirm  that  I  have  not  only  fathomed  all 
the  secrets  known  to  the  ancients  on  that  sub- 
ject, but  I  have  made  several  independent  dis- 
coveries of  my  own.  This  body  might  remain 
precisely  in  its  present  condition — barring  ac- 
cidents, of  course — for  an  indefinite  number  of 
centuries.  She  would  be  still  fresh  and  young 
when  Ralph  is  tottering  on  the  extreme  verge 
of  old  age  ;  and  he  might  return  in  some  future 
reincarnation  (if  the  Buddhist  theory  be  true), 
and  still  find  her  as  you  see  her  at  this  moment.'1 

"  It  is  an  ugly  thought,"  said  I.  "I  rather 
wish  that  the  body  might  disappear  as  soon  as 
the  soul  leaves  it.  At  all  events,  let  it  return 
to  dust  as  soon  as  the  process  of  nature  allows. 
What  possible  object  can  there  be  in  keeping 
it?" 

"  In  the  majority  of  cases  there  would  be  no 
object,  and  my  opinion  would  agree  with  yours. 
But  as  regards  Hildegarde,  there  are  other 
considerations.  I  am  interested  in  certain 
rather  curious  investigations  touching  the  con- 
nection between  the  soul  and  the  body.  There 
are  facts  that  seem  to  indicate  that  so  long  as 
the  body  is  preserved  in  its  integrity,  the  soul 
cannot  altogether  abandon  it.  Ordinarily,  the 
soul  soon  passes  into  states  where  all  possibil- 
ity of  communication  with  it  ceases  ;  but,  on 


120  The  Professor's  Sister. 

the  hypothesis  to  which  I  allude,  it  might  not 
be  so  inaccessible." 

"  This  is  horrible  !  "  I  exclaimed.  "  Do  you 
mean  to  say  that  your  scientific  curiosity  would 
lead  you  to  bind  the  soul  of  your  own  sister  to 
the  neighborhood  of  the  world  from  which 
death  has  liberated  her  !  It  would  be  im- 
pious !  What  end  could  justify  it  ?  " 

"  You  had  better  ask  Ralph  that  question," 
he  replied,  repeating  my  own  words  of  a  few 
minutes  before.  "And  if  that  be  not  enough, 
you  might  make  the  inquiry  of  my  beloved 
step-mother,  Catalina ! " 

I  stared  at  the  man  with  an  emotion  not  far 
removed  from  absolute  fear. 

"  Do  you  seriously  pretend  to  such  powers  as 
these  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  I  can  hardly  be  said  to  claim  a  power,  if  I 
avail  myself  of  natural  laws,"  said  he,  compos- 
edly ;  "  and  whether  those  laws  be  generally 
recognized  or  not,  does  not  alter  the  case. 
What  I  have  just  suggested  does  not  approach 
the  abnormal*  so  closely  as  did  the  incident 
that  occurred  at  Schandau  a  few  weeks  ago." 

I  turned  away,  feeling  a  little  giddy,  though 
whether  by  reason  of  the  tenor  of  Conrad's  re- 
marks, or  for  some  more  concrete  cause,  I 
hardly  know.  But  Conrad  took  me  gently  by 
the  arm,  and  led  me  out  of  the  shrine. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  121 

"  Your  nerves  are  a  little  off  their  centre," 
he  said,  pleasantly,  "  but  luckily  1  have  some- 
thing here  that  will  set  you  right  in  a  moment. 
Come,  sit  down  here." 

As  he  spoke  I  felt  a  rush  of  cold  air  over  my 
head  and  neck.  I  was  sitting,  riot  on  the 
chair,  as  before,  but  on  the  pentagonal  block  of 
iron  at  the  upper  corner  of  the  room.  The 
rush  of  air  came  from  above,  apparently  from 
the  magnet.  For  a  moment  I  felt  a  stifling 
sensation,  and  tried  to  rise  and  cry  out,  but  I 
could  do  neither  ;  an  irresistible  weight  pressed 
me  downward,  and  my  muscles  would  not  obey 
my  will.  I  thought  I  was  dying,  and  felt  the 
agony  of  it ;  but  then,  in  an  instant,  the  agony 
and  struggle  was  over,  and  a  delicious  sense  of 
lightness  and  power  took  their  place.  The 
cold  rush  of  air  was  now  no  longer  cold,  but 
had  an  exquisite,  vivifying  effect,  as  if  life  it- 
self, from  the  pure  original  source,  were  pour- 
ing into  my  veins.  The  vitality  thus  commu- 
nicated, though  intense,  was  calm  and  deep ;  it 
prompted  to  no  physical  activity,  but  caused 
thought  and  consciousness  to  enter  an  interior 
plane,  where  they  acquired  an  immense  devel- 
opment of  scope  and  penetration.  I  sat  still, 
and  seemed  to  possess  the  world. 

From  my  present  point  of  view,  looking 
from  the  upper  or  northern  angles  of  the  pen- 


122  The  Professor's  Sister. 

tagonal  room  toward  the  opposite  or  southern 
side,  the  whole  room  appeared  to  arrange  itself 
in  a  significant  manner.  The  geometrical  dia- 
grams were  no  longer  a  mere  complexity  of 
unmeaning  lines,  but  combined  to  form  the 
words  of  a  secret,  whose  purport  solved  the 
ratio  between  man  and  nature.  The  subtile 
angles  of  the  walls,  so  perplexing  at  the  first 
impression,  now  strengthened  the  expression 
of  the  mystic  diagrams,  and  also  suggested 
that  semblance  of  life  in  inanimate  objects 
which  one  finds  in  the  architectural  systems 
of  mediaeval  Italy. 

A  delicate  gray  film  of  perfumed  smoke, 
similar  to  that  which  I  had  lately  drawn  from 
the  cigarette,  began  to  climb  upwards  from 
some  concealed  point  behind  me,  and,  mar- 
shalled by  the  magnetic  influence,  to  move  in 
sinuous  courses  across  the  dull  blue  of  the 
ceiling.  I  presently  perceived  that  these  smoke 
wreathes  harmonized  by  a  sort  of  affinity  with 
the  eccentric  curves  that  were  inscribed  over- 
head, and  draped  them,  as  it  were,  in  aerial 
substance,  as  flesh  drapes  the  human  skeleton. 

Meanwhile  the  room  gradually  darkened,  or 
appeared  to  do  so  to  my  eyes  ;  but  the  dark- 
ness did  not  prevent  the  forms  on  the  walls 
and  ceiling  from  continuing  to  be  visible, 
though  this  may  have  been  due  merely  to  the 


The  Professor's  Sister,  123 

existence  of  the  impression  already  produced 
on  the  retina.  The  effect  of  the  darkness,  at 
all  events,  was  to  cause  the  solid  sides  of  the 
room,  and  the  roof  above,  to  seem  to  dissolve 
and  melt  away,  until  I  felt  like  one  poised  in 
the  depths  of  space  ;  but  instead  of  terror,  the 
situation  wrought  in  me  an  unspeakable  ex- 
hilaration and  security.  I  recognized  in  the 
diagrams,  the  orbits  of  the  planetary  system, 
in  which  wheeled  several  worlds  whereof 
science  has  given  no  account  ;  they  were  at 
immeasurable  distances,  outwardly  estimated  ; 
but,  gazing  at  them  with  the  eye  of  thought, 
I  could  in  a  moment  perceive  every  detail  of 
their  glorious  structure  and  economy.  The 
smoke-wreaths  bent  downward  and  took  shape 
as  the  great  spirits  of  the  elements;  they  held 
their  awful  countenances  averted,  but  I  saw 
that  the  iron  pentagon  on  which  I  sat  was  up- 
held at  each  corner  by  their  right  hands. 
Whither  they  bore  me  I  knew  not,  or  whether 
they  but  held  me  motionless  in  the  centre  of 
the  universe.  I  had  no  fear ;  only  perception. 
All  was  still  veiled  in  a  transparent  gloom ; 
but  presently  a  light  like  a  star  was  kindled  in 
the  west,  and  gaining  power,  began  to  send 
forth  azure  streamers  like  those  of  the  Polar 
lights,  which  throbbed  and  fell  and  rose  again, 
increasing  more  and  more,  until  the  planets. 


124  The  Professor's  Sister. 

and  the  long  arcs  of  their  courses,  and  the  re- 
mote recesses  of  the  heavens,  and  the  forms  of 
the  awful  spirits  that  encompassed  me,  were 
flooded  and  glorified  with  the  great  radiance, 
and  emerged  like  the  soul  from  the  mysterious 
womb  of  prenatal  being  into  the  living  exist- 
ence of  humanity.  Accompanying  this  change 
was  a  sound  of  music,  growing  and  multiply- 
ing,, sweet  as  the  warbling  of  ^olian  harps, 
and  strong  as  the  thunder  of  oceans  plunging 
over  bottomless  precipices.  Every  sense  di- 
lated and  vibrated,  receiving  and  concentrating 
the  infinity  of  sights  and  sounds  in  the  scope 
of  individual  intelligence ;  so  that  I  was  the 
universe,  and  the  universe  was  I. 

With  the  recognition  of  this  truth  the  vision 
of  space  receded,  the  outlines  of  the  spirits 
vanished,  and  the  harmonious  tumult  of  the 
music  culminated  in  a  voice,  loud  and  yet  still, 
speaking  the  creative  word  :  "  Come  forth,  and 
be  ! "  I  was  again  in  the  pentagonal  chamber, 
sparkling  now  with  the  azure  lustre  of  the 
crystal  globe,  which  kindled  the  magnetic  cur- 
rents into  living  rainbows.  Looking  in  the 
mirror  I  saw  the  black  curtain  reflected  there 
tremble  and  part,  and  from  within  emerged  the 
form  of  Hildegarde,  dead  no  longer,  but  alive 
and  erect.  Her  eyes  had  the  distraught  ex- 
pression of  one  aroused  from  deep  sleep.  There 


The  Professors  Sister.  125 

stood  she  who  had  died  three  days  before, 
breathing  and  conscious.  I  saw  her  image  in 
the  glass,  but  I  could  not  turn  my  head  to  see 
the  reality  which  the  glass  reflected. 

Her  eyes  bent  themselves  upon  me,  and  rec- 
ognition slowly  dawned  in  them.  She  seemed 
about  to  speak ;  but,  as  her  lips  parted,  they 
grew  pale,  and  her  eyelids  quivered  and 
dropped.  The  black  curtain  waved,  and  she 
sank  backwards  and  vanished  behind  its  folds. 
I  heard  a  long  sigh,  and  nothing  more. 

The  azure  lustre  of  the  globe  grew  dim  and 
dimmer,  and  faded  out  utterly.  There  were 
whispers  arid  soft  sweeping  movements,  and 
light  echoes  like  departing  footsteps.  Then 
came  a  confused  whirring  in  my  brain,  growing 
louder  and  louder,  and  again  the  sickening 
tremor  of  the  heart,  and  the  struggle  for 
breath.  I  crouched  down,  and  pressed  my  hands 
over  my  face. 

"You  are  all  right  again  now,"  said  the 
voice  of  Conrad,  speaking  in  a  brisk  and  cheer- 
ful tone.  "  Perhaps  the  current  may  have 
been  a  little  too  strong.  The  effects  are  very 
similar  to  those  of  hashish,  are  they  not  ?  " 

I  looked  up.  Everything  was  as  it  had  been 
at  first.  But  Conrad's  face  was  as  white  as  a 
sheet,  and  his  green  eyes  scintillated  with  con- 
scious power. 


126  The  Professor's  Sister. 


CHAPTER  XL 

LED      BY      A      SPIRIT. 

As  SOON  as  I  could  complete  my  arrange- 
ments to  do  so,  I  left  Dresden  and  went  to 
London.  What  I  had  experienced  in  Conrad's 
chamber  may  have  been  partly  or  wholly  a 
dream  or  illusion  of  the  senses,  similar  to  the 
visions  of  opium  and  hashish  eaters,  as  Con- 
rad himself  had  intimated.  And  though  I 
sometimes  inclined  to  this  view,  at  other  times 
I  could  not  reconcile  it  with  the  intensity  and 
permanence  of  the  effect  produced  upon  me. 
No  doubt  I  had  fallen  into  an  abnormal  state, 
and  much  of  the  surroundings  of  the  event 
were  pure  hallucination.  The  cigarette  which 
Conrad  had  given  me  may  have  been  drugged ; 
and  I  could  only  conjecture  what  might  be  the 
effects  upon  the* .  brain  of  such  magnetic  or 
electric  currents  as  his  arrangements  enabled 
him  to  produce.  But  the  two  central  events  of 
the  experience, — that  I  had  seen  Hildegarde 
dead,  and  had  afterwards  seen  her  to  all  ap- 
pearances alive, — these  things  I  could  not  dis- 
lodge from  my  mind.  I  could  not  but  believe 


The  Professor's  tiister.  127 

that  Conrad — for  what  end  it  was  vain  to  ask — 
was  indulging  in  practices  which  in  old  times 
would  have  brought  him  to  the  stake.  Whether 
his  results  were  achieved  by  sheer  witchcraft, 
or  by  some  development  of  the  principle 
of  galvanism,  were  questions  into  which  I 
did  not  care  to  enter  ;  in  either  case  I  con- 
sidered them  brutal  and  unholy,  and  I  was 
resolved  to  tell  the  whole  story  to  Ralph.  He 
could  claim,  and  would  doubtless  enforce  the 
right  to  protect  the  remains  of  his  dead  mis 
tress  from  outrage.  At  any  rate  I  felt  bound, 
as  his  friend,  to  let  him  know  what  was  going 
on,  and  so  place  him  in  a  position  to  take  what 
course  he  might  deem  best. 

The  funeral  took  place  before  I  left  town, 
and  though  I  did  not  attend  as  an  invited 
guest,  I  took  means  to  satisfy  myself  that 
Hildegarde's  body  was  in  the  coffin,  and  that 
the  coffin  was  safely  deposited  in  the  handsome 
tomb  which  the  late  Mr.  Hertrugge  had  had 
built  for  the  accommodation  of  himself  and  his 
posterity.  This  was  so  far  satisfactory,  though 
of  course  the  gates  of  the  sepulchre  would  be 
no  barrier  to  a  man  like  Conrad,  either  physi- 
cally or  morally. 

Ralph  had  given  me  his  London  address,  and 
I  called  there  the  evening  of  my  arrival ;  but 
he  had  left  several  days  before.  London  is  a 


128  The  Professor's  Sister. 

bad  place  to  hunt  for  a  person  in ;  but  I  hap- 
pened to  know  that  his  bankers  were  the  same 
as  mine,  so,  the  next  morning,  I  made  inquiries 
there.  I  then  learned  that  Ralph  had  joined 
an  expedition  commissioned  to  "develop"  cer- 
tain unknown  regions  of  Central  Africa ;  and 
his  steamer  was  already  several  hundred  miles 
on  her  way  to  her  outward  port. 

I  had  a  passing  impulse  to  go  after  him,  for 
I  was  feeling  rather  unsettled  myself  ;  but  I 
thought  better  of  it  upon  reflection.  It  was  a 
hundred  to  one  that  I  should  not  overtake 
him  ;  and  even  if  I  should  chance  to  run  across 
him  in  the  wilds  of  the  Zambesi,  and  spin  my 
yarn  to  him,  it  would  hardly  be  within  his 
power  to  take  up  his  march  forthwith  to  Dres- 
den, nor  to  get  any  satisfaction  when  he  arrived 
there.  Accordingly,  I  gave  up  all  thoughts  of 
the  matter,  contenting  myself  by  addressing 
a  letter  to  him  at  Natal,  on  the  chance  of  his 
finding  it  there  ;  and  then  I  allowed  the  whole 
subject  to  sink  into  the  latent  regions  of 
memory,  and  occupied  myself  with  other  pur- 
suits and  interests. 

The  very  first  rumors  that  came  to  hand  con- 
cerning Ralph's  expedition,  after  it  had  passed 
beyond  the  limits  of  regular  communication, 
were  to  the  effect  that  it  had  met  with  disaster. 
A  tribe,  supposed  to  be  friendly,  had  turned 


The  Professor's  Sister.  129 

out  quite  the  reverse,  and  the  explorers  had  all 
been  murdered.  Such  was  the  information 
supplied  by  a  native  attached  to  the  expedi- 
tion, who  came  back  alone  to  Natal.  Nobody 
believed  that  the  catastrophe  was  quite  as  bad 
as  that ;  the  native  undoubtedly  exaggerated  ; 
the  European  members  of  the  expedition  were 
more  likely  to  have  been  carried  into  captivity 
than  slaughtered.  But  practically,  one  fate 
was  about  as  bad  as  the  other ;  for  although, 
on  the  one  hand,  captivity  admits  a  chance  of 
escape,  yet  on  the  other  hand  a  man  who  is 
dead  has  no  further  suffering  and  ignominy  to 
endure.  Though  I  did  not  admit  it  to  myself, 
I  presently  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Ralph 
was  dead.  It  was  painful  to  think  of  him  as 
a  captive  ;  and  it  was  a  fascinating  subject  of 
speculation  whether  his  spirit  had  met  Hilde- 
garde's  in  the  other  world,  and  had  found  hap- 
piness with  her. 

My  affairs  took  me  to  the  United  States ;  I 
remained  there  over  a  year,  chiefly  in  the  west- 
ern and  northwestern  regions.  I  came  into 
business  relations  with  some  English  capitalists, 
who  were  interested  in  mining  stock,  and  at 
length  I  found  it  expedient  to  return  to  Lon- 
don to  confer  with  them.  Reaching  New  York 
on  my  way  eastwards  I  put  up  at  a  hotel  near 
Madison  Square  (my  travelling  expenses  were 


130  The  Professor's  Sister, 

defrayed  by  the  English  syndicate),  and  after 
a  shave  and  a  change  of  clothes,  I  walked  out 
under  the  trees  of  the  square.  It  was  late  of  a 
warm  June  afternoon.  In  the  centre  of  the 
square  were  benches,  surrounding  a  circular 
fountain  basin.  I  sat  down  on  one  of  these 
benches,  noticing  as  I  did  so  the  preoccupied 
attitude  of  its  only  other  occupant,  a  lean, 
athletic,  middle-aged  man,  with  a  short  stiff 
beard  and  black  hair,  ^partly  grizzled.  A  wide- 
brimmed  Panama  sombrero  was  pulled  down 
over  his  forehead ;  he  leaned  forward,  with  his 
elbows  on  his  knees,  and  his  chin  in  his  hands, 
gazing  intently  at — nothing.  I  took  him  to  be 
a  wealthy  Cuban  or  Mexican,  meditating  over 
the  lost  Spanish  empire,  or  wondering  how  Do- 
lores was  getting  along  in  his  absence.  I  sup- 
pose I  looked  at  him  rather  oftener  than  he 
thought  necessary,  for  he  suddenly  roused  him- 
self and  turned  an  impatient  glance  upon  me. 
But  his  expression  at  once  changed,  and  he 
said  with  a  smile  : 

"  You  are  a"t  your  old  tricks  still !  Is  there 
anything  in  the  world  that  can  escape  your 
eyes  and  your  knowledge  ?  " 

"  You  are  not  Ralph  Merlin  !  "  I  said. 

"No,"  he  answered,  "but  I  used  to  be." 

I  will  not  attempt  to  detail  our  talk  ;  I  am 
finishing  a  story  not  beginning  one.  He  told 


The  Professor's  Sister.  131 

me  how  his  party  had  been  attacked ;  how  he 
was  wounded  and  captured ;  how  he  had  been 
assigned  as  a  slave  to  a  certain  powerful  chief; 
how  he  had  ultimately  acquired  such  ascend- 
ancy over  the  chief  and  the  tribe  that  he  was 
requested  to  take  the  reins  of  government  into 
his  own  hands,  to  which  he  assented ;  and  to 
marry  the  retiring  chiefs  daughter,  to  which  he 
demurred.  He  drew  an  amusing  picture  spretce 
injuricBformce, — how  the  sable  queen  pursued 
him  with  her  spite  and  jealousy, — "my  ill-luck 
following  me  even  to  mid- Africa  !  "  he  added 
with  a  smile, — until  she  made  his  life  a  bur- 
den to  him  ;  and  whereas,  but  for  her,  he  might 
have  settled  down  to  pass  the  rest  of  his  life 
among  these  savages,  as  it  was,  he  deter- 
mined to  escape.  The  story  of  this  retreat  of 
one  man  through  a  thousand  or  more  miles  of 
pathless  and  hostile  country  was  at  least  as  in- 
teresting as  the  celebrated  Anabasis  of  the  Ten 
Thousand  described  by  Xenophon.  And  when, 
at  last,  he  could  exclaim  with  the  old  Greeks  : 
"  Thalassa  !  Thalassa !  "  he  found  himself  on 
a  part  of  the  coast  very  remote  indeed  from 
that  on  which  he  had  landed  nearly  eighteen 
months  before.  He  had  fallen  in  with  a  Portu- 
guese vessel  bound  for  Ceylon,  on  a  rambling, 
roundabout  voyage  ;  she  was  run  down  in  mid- 
ocean  by  a  British  liner  on  the  way  to  Austra- 


132  The  Professor's  Sister. 

lia;  at  Melbourne  he  had  taken  passage  on  an 
American  ship  going  to  Honolulu,  and  thence 
he  had  journeyed  by  the  regular  steamer  to  San 
Francisco,  and  so  across  the  continent  to  the 
bench  in  Madison  Square  where  I  found  him. 

This  tale,  as  related  by  Ralph,  was  of  absorb- 
ing and  various  interest,  and  lasted  us  back  to 
the  hotel,  through  dinner,  and  well  into  the 
evening.  But,  all  along,  I  had  a  feeling  that 
Ralph  was  leaving  something  out,  and  that  this 
something,  moreover,  embodied  the  real  gist  of 
the  whole  matter.  Again  and  again  there 
came  a  gap,  or  an  abrupt  transition  in  the  nar- 
rative ;  or  he  would  begin  a  sentence,  and 
leave  it  uncompleted,  and  say  another  thing 
altogether.  Now,  I  wanted  the  whole  story. 

"  Are  you  going  to  complete  your  circuit  of 
the  earth  ?  "  I  asked  him.  "  I  am  on  my  way 
to  London  ;  and  we  might  run  over  from  there 
to  Dresden,  and  look  up  Conrad." 

The  room — my  sitting  room  at  the  hotel — 
was  almost  dark ;  we  had  not  lighted  the  gas, 
and  the  only  light  came  through  the  transom 
over  the  door.  At  the  moment  I  spoke,  I  no- 
ticed a  faint  but  unmistakable  perfume  in  the 
room,  as  of  some  ethereal  spice.  Ralph  had 
made  no  reply  to  my  suggestion  ;  and  after 
his  silence  had  lasted  a  minute  or  two,  I  turned 
to  see  whether  he  had  fallen  asleep. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  133 

No ;  he  was  not  asleep.  He  was  sitting 
erect  in  his  chair,  leaning  a  little  forward. 
In  the  dim  light  I  could  see  that  his  great 
gray  eyes  were  wide  open,  and  the  heavy  black 
brows  somewhat  lifted.  There  was  a  sort  of 
solemn  ecstasy  in  his  expression  ;  his  gaze  was 
directed  intently  towards  the  eastern  corner  of 
the  room,  which  was  occupied  by  nothing  that 
I  could  see  but  a  tall  mahogany  wardrobe.  It 
was  not  at  the  wardrobe  that  Ralph  was  gaz- 
ing, nor  at  anything  else  visible  to  normal 
eyesight.  His  whole  soul  was  in  the  look ; 
and  he  was  utterly  unconscious  of  me,  and  of 
everything  material  in  his  surroundings.  His 
lips  moved ;  he  seemed  to  be  speaking,  but 
with  an  inward  voice  that  carried  no  sound. 
He  moved  his  head  as  if  signifying  assent ;  a 
moment  later  the  rapt  expression  faded  out ; 
the  peculiar  fragrance  ceased  to  be  perceptible ; 
he  passed  his  hands  across  his  eyes,  shifted  his 
position  in  his  chair,  and  said  with  a  half 
laugh,  "I'm  afraid  you  think  me  dull  com- 
pany ! " 

"Anything  but  that!"  I  replied.  "'But — 
we  were  not  alone  just  now." 

"Did  you  see  anything  ?"  he  demanded,  so 
quickly  and  imperatively  as  to  show  that  he 
was  deeply  startled. 

"  I  did  not  see  what  you  did,"  returned  I, 
"but  I  saw  you  see  it." 


134  The  Professor's  Sister. 

He  got  up,  struck  a  match,  lit  the  gas,  and 
took  a  turn  or  two  about  the  room.  "  Well," 
he  said  at  length,  resuming  his  chair,  "  You 
have  stood  so  near  me  in  certain  crises  of  my 
life,  that  I  may  as  well  let  you  into  my  secret 
— especially  as  you  have  probably  half  guessed 
it  already.  But  there  is  more  to  it  than  that. 
For  the  last  year,  or  thereabouts,  I  have  sus- 
pected that  I  am  insane ;  I  should  be  nearly 
certain  of  it,  but  that  I  am  neither  more  nor 
less  insane  than  I  was  at  the  beginning.  Now 
I  shall  be  very  glad  to  have  the  dispassionate 
opinion  of  a  man  like  you  on  my  case. 

"  Just  now,  I  saw  Hildegarde  and  conversed 
with  her.  I  saw  her  as  plainly  as  I  now  see 
you,  though  the  gas  was  not  lighted  then.  By 
no  test  that  I  am  able  to  devise  could  I  dis- 
tinguish between  her  reality  and  yours,  for  in- 
stance. I  see  her,  I  hear  her,  she  is  even  sen- 
sible to  my  touch — or  so  it  seems  to  me.  Dur- 
ing her  presence,  no  doubt  enters  my  mind 
that  it  is  not  Hildegarde,  her  very  self ;  and 
yet,  immediately  before  and  after,  I  am  as  well 
aware  as  you  are  that  the  thing  is  utterly  im- 
possible. Hildegarde's  body  has  been  for 
nearly  two  years  in  the  grave  ;  her  spirit  must 
long  since  have  passed  through  the  spiritual 
world,  and  entered  heaven  as  an  angel.  There- 
fore this  vision  must  be  a  sheer  mental  halluci- 


The  Professor's  Sister.  135 

nation,  not  based  on  any  spiritual  truth,  but  a 
spectre  of  insanity.  I  have  argued  it  out  a 
hundred  times,  and  can  come  to  no  other  con- 
clusion." 

"  This  is  not  the  first  time  you  have  seen 
her,  then  ?  " 

"  No,  not  by  many.  Her  appearences  have 
been  the  central  fact  of  my  life  since  I  first 
resolved  to  escape  from  my  African  principality 
and  come  home.  Indeed,  it  was  she  who,  the 
first  time  I  saw  her,  urged  me  to  go.  I  was 
sitting  at  the  door  of  my  hut;  all  the  others 
were  asleep  ;  the  forest  was  still,  except  for  the 
distant  roaring  of  a  lion.  I  had  been  thinking 
that,  my  life  being  so  objectless  and  valueless, 
I  might  as  well  live  it  in  one  way  as  another, 
and  that  it  would  perhaps  be  best  to  marry 
this  black  princess  who  had  so  set  her  heart 
upon  me,  and  breed  a  race  of  savage  kings  who 
should  live  and  rule  and  die  innocent  of  the 
triumphs  and  shames  of  our  civilization.  Then 
I  looked  up ;  and  out  of  the  darkest  aisle  of 
the  tropic  wood  I  saw  Hildegarde  come  to- 
wards me.  She  came  quite  close  to  me,  with 
her  eyes  upon  mine  ;  I  was  neither  amazed 
nor  afraid;  it  was  as  if  I  had  expected  her. 
She  raised  her  right  hand,  on  which  was  the 
opal  ring  I  gave  her,  and  pointed  to  the  east. 
1  You  must  leave  this  and  go,  Ralph,'  she  said. 


136  The  Professors  /Sister. 

1  I  will  tell  you  the  day  when  you  must  start, 
and  I  will  guide  you  to  the  sea.'  I  answered 
that  I  would  be  ready ;  and  she  passed  to  my 
left  round  the  corner  of  the  hut.  As  soon  as 
she  was  gone,  the  amazement  and  fear  came  ; 
I  sprang  up  to  follow  her,  but  I  could  not  find 
her.  For  two  days  I  waited,  and  she  did  not 
return.  I  began  to  say  to  myself  that  I  had 
dreamed.  But  on  the  third  night  I  slept ; 
and  in  the  midst  of  my  sleep  I  felt  a  touch  on 
my  face,  and  she  was  there.  I  arose  and  fol- 
lowed her  ;  we  passed  through  the  village  ;  she 
showed  me  my  course  by  the  stars,  and  sud- 
denly I  was  alone.  But  I  went  on  till  morn- 
ing; and  if  ever  I  got  astray  from  the  path,  I 
fancied  I  felt  a  touch,  directing  me  aright.  So 
it  was  for  many  days,  and  I  came  to  trust  in 
her  as  the  sailor  trusts-to  his  compass.  Often 
she  warned  me  of  perils  that  would  otherwise 
have  destroyed  me.  I  gained  the  coast,  as  you 
know,  and  reached  this  place  by  devious  routes. 
To-night  she  told  me  that  my  journey  was  not 
ended  yet ;  I  a"m  still  to  go  eastward,  and  now 
in  your  company.  And  yet — all  this  is  in- 
sanity ! " 

"  But  you  are  not  insane,"  I  replied  ;  "  you 
are  not  even  suffering  from  monomania. 
Monomaniacs  cannot  reason  about  their  in- 
firmity, or  perceive  that  it  is  abnormal.  Your 


The  Professors  Sister.  137 

experience  cannot  be  explained  on  that 
ground." 

"  There  is  no  other  explanation,  however," 
remarked  he. 

"  There  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons 
who  will  assure  you  that  the  thing  is  in  accord- 
ance with  known  principles  of  life.  They  will 
tell  you  that  the  spirits  of  the  dead  can  revisit 
those  they  love,  to  warn  and  guide  them.  They 
would  regard  your  case  as  a  model  example  of 
their  belief.  Why  should  not  you  believe  it 
too  ?  " 

"  Sooner  than  accept  that  theory,'7  replied 
Ralph,  "I  prefer  the  alternative  of  my  own  in- 
sanity. The  spirits  that  respond  to  our  invi- 
tations are  but  the  complement  of  our  own 
foolish  and  impious  curiosity.  They  are  the 
undigested  fragments  of  humanity,  swimming 
in  the  cosmic  stomach,  as  yet  neither  cast  ir- 
revocably to  waste,  nor  taken  up  into  the  blood 
of  heaven.  Hildegarde  is  not  such  an  one ; 
nor,  if  she  were,  should  I  recognize  her,  or  she 
me.  I  was  clear  on  that  head  long  before  this 
experience  began,  and  I  cannot  abandon  my 
conviction  now,  to  gratify  a  personal  longing." 

"Is  there  nothing  in  the  Buddhistic  creed  to 
meet  your  want  ?  "  I  asked.  "  Do  you  put  no 
faith  in  their  analysis  of  man  ?  Might  not 
this  apparition  be  the  astral  form  of  Hilde- 


138  The  Professor's  Sister. 

garde,  which  her  love  projects  towards  3-011  ?  " 
llalph  shook  his  head.  "  I  am  not  compe- 
tent to  judge  of  the  Hindoo  philosophy,"  he 
remarked;  "but  even  if  their  scheme  has  any 
truth  in  it,  it  would  not  apply  to  this  case.  The 
astral  form  is  the  emanation  and  emissary  of  a 
living  human  being.  Hildegarde  being  dead, 
has,  according  to  them,  passed  into  the  state  of 
Devachan,  there  to  remain  until  the  period  of 
her  next  incarnation  ;  and  whatever  of  her  so- 
called  fourth  principle  remains  in  the  astral 
light,  would  be  incapable  of  any  independent 
action.  But  Conrad  and  I  have  often  discussed 
the  whole  subject,  and  I  never  could  feel  any 
assurance  that  the  entire  Buddhistic  system  is 
anything  more  than  an  ingenious  and  supple 
series  of  inventions  to  meet  each  difficulty  as 
it  arises." 

Hereupon  I  felt  that  if  there  were  ever  to  be 
a  time  when  the  story  of  my  experiences  with 
Conrad  was  to  be  of  any  avail  to  llalph,  that 
time  was  now  come.  Accordingly,  I  began 
with  the  mysterious  episode  at  Schandau  ;  I 
recounted,  in  passing,  my  conversation  with 
Burlace  about  Catalina's  interest  in  his  inves- 
tigation of  disease  germs ;  and  pointed  out  the 
sinister  light  which,  in  my  opinion,  it  seemed 
to  cast  upon  Hildegarde's  sudden  seizure  by 
one  of  these  very  diseases.  I  spoke  of  Cata- 


The  Professor's  Sister.  139 

lina's  scarcely  disguised  acknowledgment  of 
the  justice  of  my  suspicions,  and  her  defiant 
attitude.  Then  I  described  Conrad's  strange 
lightsomeness  of  demeanor,  his  half-jesting  con- 
versation, his  invitation  to  me  to  visit  his 
study, — and  the  sight  I  beheld  behind  the  black 
curtain. 

Kalph  had  listened,  thus  far,  without  a  move- 
ment or  response  of  any  kind,  even  when  I 
suggested  that  Hildegarde  had  been  poisoned 
by  her  step-mother.  He  was  never  wont  to  be 
disturbed  by  the  irrevocable.  But  at  this  point 
I  perceived  a  change  in  the  manner  of  his  lis- 
tening ;  his  breathing,  now  held  back  to  hear, 
and  now  taken  in  a  quick  sigh  ;  and  the  slight 
involuntary  shiftings  of  his  attitude,  betrayed 
how  strained  was  his  attention.  I  went  on  to 
portray,  as  best  I  could,  the  extraordinary 
phantasmagoria  that  had  followed  in  the  pen- 
tagonal chamber,  culminating  in  the  appearance 
of  Hildegarde  herself,  in  her  habit  as  she  lived ; 
her  seeming  recognition  of  me,  and  how,  before 
she  could  speak,  the  hand  of  death  had  fastened 
on  her  once  more. 

"  I  did  not  know  what  to  think  of  it  then, 
and  I  don't  know  now,"  I  concluded.  "But 
since  hearing  your  story,  I  cannot  help  think- 
ing that  Conrad  may  have  some  explanations 
to  make  which  it  would  be  worth  your  while  to 
listen  to." 


140  The  Professor's  Sister. 

"  Possibly  !  "  murmured  Ralph,  absently ; 
"  possibly  ! "  Presently  he  got  up  and  took 
his  hat.  "  I  must  think  over  this,"  he  said. 
"  There  may  be  a  chance  yet  for  my  sanity. 
And  yet  it  might  be  wiser  to  leave  that  in 
doubt,  and  go  no  further  ! " 


The  Professor's  Sister.  141 


CHAPTER  XII. 

TWO    MEX. 

THE  next  day  but  one,  Ralph  and  I  were 
passengers  on  a  steamship  of  the  Bremen 
line.  These  steamers  stop  at  Southampton.  I 
left  the  vessel  at  that  port,  and  went  on  by 
rail  to  London.  Ralph  was  to  continue  the 
voyage  to  Bremen,  and  then  proceed  to  Dres- 
den. 

I  expected  to  be  detained  in  London  a  week. 
After  that,  I  promised  Ralph  that  I  would  fol- 
low him  to  the  Saxon  capital.  He  made  a 
point  of  this ;  he  seemed  anxious  to  have  a 
friendly  supporter  at  hand. 

On  the  trip  over,  we  had  uniformly  avoided 
the  topic  that  must  have  been  uppermost  in 
his  mind.  We  conversed  on  general  matters ; 
and  I  noticed  that  Ralph's  character  had  mel- 
lowed and  deepened  since  the  old  Dresden 
days.  His  intellectual  strength  and  mastery 
were  as  signal  as  before,  but  his  eagerness  and 
love  of  conflict  were  gone  ;  and  he  no  longer 
looked  forward,  to  the  world's  future  and  his 
own,  as  he  was  used  to  do.  He  seemed  more 


142  The  Professor's  Sister. 

willing  to  learn  than  to  teach.  He  spent  much 
time  in  revery.  The  masculine  sternness  of 
his  face  was,  at  such  periods,  touch ingly  soft- 
ened ;  I  could  read  in  its  lines  something  of 
his  experience  that  he  had  never  told  me ;  the 
thoughts  and  emotions  that  had  turned  his  hair 
gray  before  its  time.  But  again,  I  caught  from 
his  eyes  a  light  of  unfulfilled  purpose  and  an- 
ticipation. There  was  still  something  for  him 
to  do  or  suffer, — God  knew  what. 

One  of  the  first  persons  I  met  in  London 
was  Burlace.  He  was  altered,  and  for  the 
worse.  His  loud,  obstreperous  voice  had  be- 
come morose  and  complaining;  his  face  was 
pale  and  relaxed  ;  his  bearing,  instead  of  being 
aggressive  and  brisk,  was  sullen  and  lurching; 
when  I  saw  him  he  was  slouching  down  the 
Strand  with  a  short  pipe  hanging  from  the 
corner  of  his  mouth ;  and  I  had  not  heard  him 
speak  a  dozen  words  before  I  surmised  that  he 
had  been  too  familiar  with  gin. 

However,  he  seemed  glad  to  see  me,  and  as 
anxious  to  talk  as  if  he  had  been  restricted  to 
his  own  company  for  months.  I  tried  to  post- 
pone the  interview  until  such  time  as  he  should 
be  in  a  less  liquorish  humor  ;  but  he  would  not 
be  put  off,  and  dragged  me  down  a  side  alley 
to  a  dingy  little  inn,  where  he  assured  me  I 
could  get  the  best  Hollands  in  town.  "  I  know 


The  Professor's  Sister.  143 

the  folks  here/'  he  remarked,  "  and  they  keep 
a  special  tap  for  me."  So  we  had  Hollands 
and  birds-eye  tobacco  and  dirt.  And  Burlace 
said,  '  Say,  old  man,  here's  a  c'nundrum.  Am 
I  married  or  single  ?  " 

"  You  may  see  double,"  I  replied,  "  but  you 
were  made  for  a  bachelor,  and  you  are  one." 

"  When  you  said  I  was  made  for  a  bachelor, 
you  did  not  think  I  had  lived  to  be  married — 
did  you,  now  ?  But  married  I  am,  all  the 
same,  though  it's  true  I've  lived  a  bachelor 
ever  since." 

"Come,"  I  said,  "you  don't  know  what 
you're  saying." 

He  struck  his  great  paw  on  the  table.  "  I 
am  married,  I  tell  you — to  Catalina,  widow  of 
the  late  Herman  Hertrugge,  of  Dresden.  If 
you  don't  believe  it,  go  there  and  find  out. 
She  can't  deny  it — God  damn  her !  " 

He  stared  at  me  with  inflamed  eyes,  and 
wagged  his  head. 

"  Where  is  your  wife  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  In  Hell,  for  all  I  know ;  but  when  I  saw 
her  last  she  was  in  her  drawing-room  in  Dres- 
den. Look  here,  old  man,  you've  always  been 
a  friend  of  mine  ;  I'll  tell  you  the  story."  I 
need  not  reproduce  any  further  the  manner  of 
his  speech  ;  but  his  story  was  strange  enough. 
He  had  proposed  to  Catalina  on  the  day  before 


144  The  Professor's  /Sister. 

Hildegarde's  betrothal  reception,  and  she  had 
agreed  to  marry  him  after  her  step-daughter's 
wedding  should  have  taken  place  "  if  she  lives 
to  be  wedded !  "  she  had  added,  in  a  jesting 
way.  He  knew  the  terms  of  the  will,  and  un- 
derstood her  to  mean  that  she  would  marry  him 
any  way.  After  Hildegarde's  death  he  re- 
minded her  of  her  promise,  and  the  day  was 
fixed.  The  wedding  was  to  be  a  quiet  one,  in 
the  bride's  house  ;  Conrad  had  shown  himself 
well  disposed  to  the  affair,  and  all  looked  pros- 
perous. The  guests  came  ;  the  priest  called 
the  bride  and  groom  before  him,  and  pro- 
nounced the  words  that  made  them  man  and 
wife.  But  no  sooner  had  the  final  vows  been 
spoken,  than  Catalina  uttered  a  terrible  shriek, 
and  fainted.  Every  one  was  disconcerted;  only 
Conrad  retained  his  presence  of  mind ;  he  ex- 
plained to  the  guests  that  his  step-mother  had 
been  laboring  under  considerable  nervous  ex- 
citement during  several  days  previous,  and 
that  this  was  a  not  unnatural  culmination  of 
her  condition*.  The  decks  having  been  thus 
cleared,  Catalina  was  taken  to  her  room,  and 
presently  revived.  She  still  manifested  unac- 
countable agitation  ;  and  when  her  new  hus- 
band ventured  to  propose  that  they  should  get 
into  their  carriage  and  begin  their  wedding 
journey,  she  trembled  so  violently  that  he; 


The  Professor's  Sister.  145 

feared  another  fain  ting-fit,  and  postponed  the 
matter  until  the  afternoon.  By  that  time 
Catalina  seemed  to  have  recovered  her  nerve ; 
she  put  on  her  traveling  dress  and  came  down- 
stairs, laughing  at  her  late  indisposition,  and 
declaring  that  she  had  never  felt  better.  The 
carriage  was  at  the  kerb;  she  came  out  leaning 
on  her  husband's  arm,  and  his  heart  was  over- 
flowing with  delightful  anticipations.  The 
footman  opened  the  carriage  door,  and  Cata- 
lina's  foot  was  on  the  step. 

There  was  nothing  at  all  in  the  carriage  ex- 
cept the  cushions  ;  but  Catalina  suddenly 
stopped  and  grew  as  rigid  as  iron,  and  the  hand 
which  Burlace  held  in  his  became  icy  cold. 
She  made  no  outcry,  but  her  face  assumed  an 
expression  that  made  even  Burlace's  lusty 
blood  run  cold.  Her  lips  parted,  and  she 
seemed  to  gasp  for  air;  then  a  tremor  shook 
her  from  head  to  foot,  and  she  fell  back 
in  her  husband's  arms.  He  thought  she  had 
died  of  a  stroke  of  the  heart,  and,  with  the  as- 
sistance of  the  footman,  carried  her  back  into 
the  house.  He  and  Conrad  worked  over  her 
for  an  hour,  and  at  last  succeeded  in  bringing 
her  back  to  consciousness.  But  now  her  cour- 
age and  self-control  seemed  utterly  broken 
down ;  she  was  as  weak  and  garrulous  as  an 
invalid  child;  she  exhibited  terror  whenever 


146  The  Professor  s  Sister. 

Burlace  approached  her,  and  shuddered  when 
he  addressed  her.  She  either  could  or  would 
not  give  any  explanation  of  her  state.  Even- 
ing came"  on,  and  it  was  necessary  to  give  up 
all  idea  of  starting  on  their  trip  that  day. 
Catalina  remained  in  her  room  in  charge  of  a 
nurse,  and  Burlace,  refusing  Conrad's  offer  of 
a  cot-bed  in  the  library,  went  to  an  hotel  and 
spent  his  wedding  night  there. 

The  next  morning  he  presented  himself  at 
the  house,  and  was  told  that  his  wife  would  see 
him.  He  went  to  her  room,  and  found  her 
propped  up  with  pillows  on  her  bed.  She  was 
alone,  and  signed  to  him  to  sit  down.  He  drew 
up  a  chair,  but  she  begged  him  in  a  nervous 
tone  not  to  sit  so  near. 

She  told  him  that  she  could  never  live  with 
him  as  his  wife.  She  evaded  giving  any  defi- 
nite or  comprehensible  reason  for  this  decision, 
but  said  that  any  attempt  to  fulfil  her  marriage 
duties  would,  she  was  well  convinced,  result  in 
her  death.  He  pressed  her  energetically  to  be 
more  explicit;  she  became  pitifully  agitated, 
and  the  words  that  fell  from  her  seemed  to 
mean,  if  they  meant  anything,  that  she  fancied 
herself  to  have  committed  some  hideous  crime, 
and  that  she  had  received  a  warning  from  the 
grave.  He  expostulated,  entreated,  even 
stormed  and  raged,  in  vain.  He  swore  that  he 


The  Professor's' Sister.  147 

would  take  her  with  him  by  force,  at  which 
she  burst  into  an  hysteric  laugh,  and 
asked  him  if  he  were  stronger  than  death  ? 
Later,  she  offered  to  make  any  arrangement  as 
regarded  money  matters  that  he  chose  to  sug- 
gest, even  to  surrendering  three-fourths  of  her 
furtune;  but  with  this  Burlace  would  have 
nothing  to  do.  He  would  have  her,  or  noth- 
ing. He  left  her  at  last,  she  being  in  a  condi- 
tion of  semi-collapse,  and  he  in  a  frame  of  mind 
half  way  between  the  murderous  and  the  sui- 
cidal. He  rambled  about  the  streets  all  day 
and  night ;  the  morning  following  he  came 
back  to  the  house,  determined  to  enforce  his 
rights. 

He  was  met  by  Conrad,  who  told  him  that 
Catalina  had  left  Dresden.  He  said  that  he 
believed  her  mind  was  affected ;  that  she  ap- 
peared to  imagine  she  was  haunted,  or  pur- 
sued by  a  malignant  spirit.  "  So  far  as  I 
can  make  out,"  Conrad  had  added,  "  she  has 
got  a  notion  that  she  was  somehow  instrumen- 
tal in  bringing  about  the  death  of  my  sister 
Hildegarde,  and  she  goes  so  for  as  to  allude  to 
you  as  if  you  were  her  accomplice  in  the  affair. 
It  is  ridiculous,  of  course  ;  and  her  adhering  to 
it  is  evidence  of  her  mental  unsoundness." 
Conrad  had  gone  on  to  say  that  Catalina  had 
extracted  a  promise  from  him  not  to  reveal  to 


148  The  Professor's  Sister. 

Burlace  the  place  of  her  retreat  j  but  he  held 
out  hopes  that  she  would,  if  allowed  to  remain 
in  quiet  for  a  while,  regain  her  equipoise,  and 
that  their  married  felicity  would  then  resume 
an  uninterrupted  course.  Burlace,  utterly 
worn  out  in  brain  and  body,  was  unable  to 
struggle  any  longer ;  he  gave  Conrad  an  ad- 
dress where  to  write  to  him  in  case  of  any 
favorable  change  ;  then  he  threw  himself  into 
a  train  and  came  to  London. 

"  And  I've  been  here  ever  since,"  he  added, 
emptying  his  fourth  glass  of  Hollands,  and 
staring  sullenly  at  the  dregs  in  the  bottom. 
"  But  I  understand  the  whole  damned  swindle 
now.  She  was  in  love  with  that  fellow  Ralph 
Merlin,  and  she  is  scheming  to  get  him.  It's 
all  very  clever  and  cunning.  Maybe  she  did 
murder  Hildegarde ;  I  remember  she  came  one 
day  to  look  through  my  microscope  ;  and  there 
was  some  stuff  about  that  would  have  poisoned 
half  Dresden,  and  no  one  the  wiser.  The  girl 
was  in  h,er  way,  and  it  would  be  natural 
enough.  I  don't  know  where  Ralph  is  ;  but  if 
ever  I  find  that  he  has  been  within  reach  of 
her  I'll  squeeze  the  life  out  of  her  white  throat 
with  these  fingers  of  mine  !  "  He  held  them 
up  before  me,  in  his  sullen,  drunken  rage. 
"But  all  that  about  her  being  haunted,  and 
her  fainting  and  shrieking, — that  was  all  lies 


The  Professor's  Sister.  149 

and  humbug.  They  have  made  a  fool  of  me 
between 'em;  but  the  end  has  not  come  yet. 
Look  here  !  do  you  know  where  Ralph  is  ?  " 

He  thrust  his  face  abruptly  into  mine  as  he 
asked  the  question,  as  if  he  were  ready  to  sus- 
pect me  of  being  in  the  "plot"  against  him. 
Although  I  did  not  attach  much  weight  to  his 
maunderings,  and  was  rather  disposed  to  think 
that  a  dose  of  Ralph  might  prove  a  good  thing 
for  him,  I  prevaricated  to  the  extent  of  re- 
minding him  that  Ralph's  death  had  been  re- 
ported a  year  ago,  and  that  if  he  had  returned 
to  life  since,  I  had  seen  no  mention  of  it  in  the 
newspapers.  But  Burlace  had  by  this  time 
lost  the  faculty  of  holding  a  consecutive  train 
of  thought ;  he  diverged  on  one  topic  after  an- 
other, and  finally  broke  into  sobs,  and  called 
me  to  witness  how  he  worshipped  Catalina. 
"  I  don't  care  what  she  did,"  he  cried,  sticking 
his  big  knuckles  in  his  eyes,  like  a  schoolboy ; 
"  if  she  had  cut  the  girl's  throat  with  a  carving- 
knife,  I'd  have  married  her  just  as  quick.  I 
love  her;  and  when  that's  said,  everything's 
said — isn't  it?  She  might  be  as  wicked  as 
she  likes  ;  what's  wickedness  ?  What's  moral- 
ity, I'd  like  to  know  !  Do  you  remember  my 
thermometer?  I  believe  in  nothing;  you 
know  that ;  not  in  God  nor  Devil.  But  I 
loved  that  woman  as  no  one  else  ever  loved 


150  The  Professor's  Sister. 

her,  or  ever  will.  She'll  find  it  out  some  day. 
I'd  have  stood  by  her  in  anything,  110  matter 
what — good  or  bad.  I'm  a  good  fellow,  too, — 
or  I  was,  before  this  happened.  I'm  a  drunk- 
ard and  a  good-for-nothing  loafer  now;  I  know 
that  as  well  as  you  do ;  and  she  did  it.  Well, 
that's  all  right.  Have  some  more  gin  ?  Where 
are  you  stopping  here  ?  " 

I  gave  him  my  address,  not  expecting  him 
to  remember  it,  and  soon  after  left  him.  What 
he  had  said  of  himself  was  true  ;  he  was  a  man 
of  good  natural  abilities,  and  no  mean  accom- 
plishments. But  he  believed  in  nothing;  and 
therefore  a  woman  had  been  able  to  ruin  him. 

A  few  days  later  I  received  a  letter  from 
Ralph,  with  the  Dresden  post-mark.  "Come 
here  as  soon  as  you  can  leave  your  business,"  he 
wrote.  "  I  have  seen  Conrad ;  in  fact  he  met 
me  at  the  train,  and  seemed  to  have  known  I 
was  coming.  You  know  his  foible  is  to  seem 
to  know  everything  beforehand ;  and  certainly 
he  has  queer  gifts.  I  have  told  him  nothing  of 
my  experience ;  but  some  things  he  has  said 
appear  to  indicate  that  he  is  somehow  cogni- 
zant of  it.  I  believe  Catalina  is  in  Dresden, 
or  not  far  away  from  it ;  I  have  not  seen  her, 
and  don't  suppose  I  shall.  Conrad  tells  me  she 
was  married  to  Burlace,  but  has  never  lived 
with  him  ;  I  don't  know  the  reason  of  either 


The  Professor's  Sister.  151 

fact.  Next  week,  Conrad  intends  to  have  some 
sort  of  a  reception  at  his  house.  I  have  a  no- 
tion that  this  occasion  will  have  an  especial 
significance  for  me ;  and  I  want  you  to  be 
present."  After  alluding  to  some  other  sub- 
jects, he  said,  "I  have  had  no  visions  since  ar- 
riving here ;  but  nevertheless  there  has  been  a 
constant  sense  of  Hildegarde's  proximity.  I 
feel  as  if  I  should  learn  more  about  her  soon ; 
and  yet  I  feel  as  if  it  might  be  best,  both  for 
her  and  for  me,  if  I  left  Dresden  at  once  and 
forever.  But  if  so,  I  lack  the  resolution  to  act 
upon  the  impression.  I  shall  see  the  matter  to 
its  end,  let  it  issue  how  it  will.  And  I  depend 
on  you." 

I  arrived  in  Dresden  on  the  morning  of  the 
day  of  Conrad's  proposed  reception.  I  was 
driven  to  the  Hotel  Bellevue  ;  but  finding  it 
full,  I  told  the  kutscher  to  take  me  to  the  Hotel 
de  Saxe.  There,  somewhat  to  my  perplexity, 
I  found  rooms  already  engaged  for  me,  and  a 
note  from  Conrad,  asking  me  to  give  him  the 
pleasure  of  my  company  that  evening. 


152  The  Professors  Sister. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

AN    EXPERIMENT. 

THE  time  appointed  for  me  to  present  myself 
at  Conrad's  was  an  hour  or  so  earlier  than  for 
the  other  guests ;  and  when  I  entered  I  found 
only  him  and  Ralph.  I  had  met  the  hitter 
earlier  in  the  day.  Conrad  greeted  me  with 
much  cordiality. 

"Ralph  and  I  have  heen  at  our  old  work," 
he  said,  laughing ;  "  we  have  resumed  our  duel 
in  the  realms  of  the  transcendental.  My  con- 
viction is  that  life  has  a  much  closer  relation  to 
the  body  than  extremists  on  the  other  side  are 
willing  to  admit.  The  body,  we  are  agreed,  is 
the  direct  creation  of  the  soul,  and  only  indi- 
rectly that  of  God — I  am  availing  myself  of 
my  opponent's  terminology— whose  proper  ac- 
tivity begins  and  ends  with  the  soul  only. 
God  produces 'only  what  is,  namely:  man  the 
spirit;  and  His  creative  attitude  towards  this 
spirit  results  in  what  appears  to  be,  namely  : 
the  body  of  man,  and  the  rest  of  the  material 
universe.  Now,  my  point  is  this : — what  we 
call  the  mortal  life  of  a  person  is  the  persist- 
ence, for  a  certain  period  in  the  case  of  that 


The  Professor's  Sister.  153 

person,  of  this  result  of  a  creative  attitude 
which  is  permanent  as  regards  mankind  at 
large.  In  other  words,  though  man  is  con- 
stantly incarnate,  individual  human  beings  are 
constantly  disincarnating,  or,  as  we  say,  dying. 
The  question,  then,  arises,  what  is  the  cause 
of  this  individual  disincar nation,  and  can  it  be 
arrested  ?  " 

"  Individuals  die,  because  individuals  are 
born,"  said  Ralph.  "  Mankind  does  not  die, 
because  there  was  never  a  time  when  it  did  not 
exist." 

"Conceding  that  for  the  moment,"  returned 
Conrad,  "the  more  practical  problem  remains, 
can  death  be  arrested  ?  If  the  body  only 
seems  to  be,  at  best,  why  may  not  that  seeming 
be  indefinitely  prolonged  ?  Is  it  not  true  that 
death  is,  essentially,  a  change  in  the  soul, — 
the  arrival  of  a  moment  when  one  phase  of  its 
activity  terminates,  and  another  phase  begins? 
Evidently,  then,  if  we  wish  to  postpone  death, 
we  must  direct  our  efforts  first  to  the  soul. 
We  must  devise  some  means  by  which  the  soul 
can  be  induced  or  compelled  to  delay  entering 
upon  its  second  phase,  and  to  continue  in  its 
first  or  physical  one.  Are  you  bold  enough  to 
affirm  that  such  a  fact  is  beyond  the  skill  of 
human  science  ?  " 

"  Suppose  the  body  to   have  been  blown  to 


154  The  Professor's  Sister. 

atoms  by  an  explosion,"  I  began  ;  but  he  inter- 
rupted me  with  a  laugh. 

"I  admit  technical  difficulties  in  such  a 
case,"  said  he ;  "  though  less,  perhaps,  as  re- 
gards the  physical  than  the  spiritual  predica- 
ment ;  for  do  not  our  friends,  the  spiritualists, 
tell  us  tales  about  '  materializing7  spirits? 
But  take  the  case  that  the  body,  at  the  moment 
of  the  change,  is  substantially  sound,  though 
(let  us  say)  it  has  been  attacked  by  a  fatal  dis- 
ease,— or,  to  speak  more  philosophically,  the 
soul  has  suffered  from  certain  delusions  which 
are  reflected  on  the  physical  plane  as  derange- 
ment of  bodily  function,  or  disintegration  of 
tissue.  My  contention  would  be  that  the  cor- 
rection of  this  delusion  would  restore  the  soul 
(and  as  a  corollary  the  body)  to  a  normal  state, 
and  re-establish  physical  life." 

"Well,"  said  Ralph — and  he  threw  a  pecu- 
liar glance  at  me  as  he  spoke — "  that  seems  to 
be  a  sufficiently  ingenious  theory.  Have  you 
any  practical  illustrations  to  adduce  in  support 
of  it?" 

"  It  is  hardly  fair  to  tempt  me  to  discredit 
my  good  logic  with  imperfect  facts,"  returned 
Conrad,  laughing  again  ;  "but  are  you  really 
desirous  to  push  the  matter  to  a  test  ?  " 

"  To  be  frank  with  you,"  Ralph  rejoined, 
"I  do  desire  it,  and  I  do  not.  If  such  a  thing 


The  Professor's  Sister.  155 

as  you  propose  can  be  done,  I  hold  it  to  be  a 
profanation  of  the  most  unmitigated  sort, — the 
black  art  in  its  worst  form.  At  the  same  time, 
I  am  weak  enough  to  put  you  to  the  proof ;  if 
you  can  do  it,  let  it  be  done." 

"Your  invitation  might  be  more  cordial," 
remarked  Conrad,  lightly.  "  As  to  the  black 
art,  my  dear  Ralph,  you  know  it  is  not  at  all 
in  my  line.  My  investigations,  such  as  they 
are,  have  been  strictly  on  the  lines  laid  down 
oy  Nature.  I  am  only  a  beginner  in  science  5 
but  I  think  I  have  one  advantage  over  scientific 
men  in  general,  in  that  I  recognize  and  make 
my  account  with  both  sides  of  Nature,  instead 
of  with  the  physical  side  exclusively.  Study 
of  the  one  throws  light  upon  the  other,  and 
speculations  on  the  spirit  suggest  experiments 
on  the  body.  But  you  shall  judge  for  your- 
self; and,  by  the  way,  I  have  a  right  to  expect 
indulgence  in  this  case,  from  you  especially. 
Step  into  my  study." 

He  led  the  way,  and  we  followed.  The  pen- 
tagonal chamber  looked  much  as  it  did  when  I 
had  seen  it  last ;  but  now  a  handsome  antique 
chest  of  carved  oak  rested  upon  the  iron  pen- 
tagon beneath  the  great  magnet.  It  was  se- 
cured by  three  massive  locks. 

"  This  chest,"  observed  Conrad,  "  has  not 
been  opened  since  I  closed  it  nearly  two  years 


156  The  Professors  Sister. 

ago.  You  have  only  my  word  for  this ;  but  I 
will  say  that  I  have  no  object  in  deceiving 
you.  Here  are  the  keys,"  he  added,  taking 
them  from  a  hook  on  the  wall ;  "  will  you 
oblige  me,  Ralph,  by  unlocking  the  thing,  and 
lifting  the  lid  ?  " 

Ralph  hesitated  a  moment,  as  if  summoning 
his  resolution.  Then  he  took  the  keys  from 
Conrad's  hand,  and  turned  them,  one  after  the 
other,  in  the  locks.  After  another  pause,  he 
grasped  the  edges  of  the  lid  with  both  hands, 
and  flung  it  back  with  such  violence  that  it 
was  torn  from  its  hinges,  and  fell  with  a  crash 
to  the  floor.  A  powerful  aromatic  odor  imme- 
diately filled  the  room. 

The  coffer  was  filled  to  the  brim  with  some 
substance  resembling  amber,  in  pieces  about 
the  size  of  a  raisin.  It  was  from  this,  appar- 
ently, that  the  pleasant  odor  emanated.  But 
what  struck  me  particularly  was  the  fact  that 
this  odor,  though  much  stronger,  was  the  same 
that  I  had  noticed  in  my  room  in  New  York, 
at  the  time  wnen  Ralph  was  visited  by  the 
vision  of  Hildegarde ;  and  I  perceived  that 
Ralph  recognized  it  also,  and  his  face  flushed 
red.  He  looked  at  Conrad  with  a  sort  of 
fierceness. 

"  What  is  this  ?  "  he  demanded.  «  Play  me 
no  tricks." 


The  Professor's  Sister.  157 

tc  It's  merely  a  variety  of  aromatic  gum,"  re- 
turned Conrad,  in  a  matter-of-fact  tone,  "which 
I  placed  here  on  account  of  its  purifying  and 
preservative  qualities.  It  lies,  as  you  see,  in  a 
shallow  tray,  and  can  be  removed  without 
trouble."  He  suited  the  action  to  the  word, 
lifting  out  the  tray,  which  he  laid  to  one  side. 
The  space  beneath  appeared  to  be  closely 
packed  with  folded  cloths,  of  the  texture  of  fine 
lawn,  and  having  a  pale,  yellow  hue,  probably 
due  to  some  solution  in  which  they  had  been 
steeped.  As  Ralph  remained  motionless,  Con- 
rad proceeded  to  remove  these  cloths  one  by 
one,  until  he  had  uncovered  a  long  object,  of 
roughly  cylindrical  shape,  swathed  in  a  cover- 
ing of  heavy  linen,  sew^n  up  lengthwise  down 
the  centre.  Its  outlines  conveyed  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  human  form. 

"  Have  either  of  you  a  pen-knife  ?  "  inquired 
Conrad.  "  We  shall  have  to  rip  open  this  cov- 
ering in  order  to  come  at  what  is  inside." 

Ralph  still  made  no  sign.  I  took  my  knife 
from  my  pocket,  and,  at  a  nod  from  Conrad, 
cut  the  thread  of  the  seam  from  end  to  end. 
The  covering  fell  apart. 

There  was  a  filling  of  dried  rose  leaves 
within ;  but  these  sifted  down  on  either  side, 
and  revealed — what,  of  course,  I  had  all  along 
expected  to  see — the  pure,  pale  countenance  of 
Hildegarde. 


158  The  Professor's  Sister. 

"What  do  you  think?"  said  Conrad,  ap- 
pealing to  me,  as  a  sculptor  might  ask  my  opin- 
ion of  his  statue.  "I  can  see  no  change  ;  can 
you  ?  " 

"None!  "said  I. 

And,  indeed,  after  the  lapse  of  these  two 
years,  she  seemed  as  fresh  and  untouched  as 
on  the  day  when  she  stood  beside  Ralph  as  his 
betrothed  wife.  The  skin  seemed  soft  and 
pliant ;  the  long  eyelashes,  resting  on  the 
cheeks,  needed  but  a  thought  to  lift  them ;  and 
the  curved  line  between  the  lips  would  melt  at 
a  breath.  And  yet,  for  two  years,  no  breath 
had  passed  them,  nor  had  any  light  visited  the 
eyes. 

"  What  say  you,  my  friend  ?  "  asked  Conrad, 
regarding  Ralph  curiously. 

"  It  is  a  wonderful  piece  of  work,"  he  re- 
turned, in  a  measured  voice.  "Not  so  warm 
as  a  painting,  nor  so  ideal  as  sculpture ;  but 
the  Egyptians  themselves  could  not  have  done 
better.  Of  what  use  is  it  ?  " 

"  Her  soul  might  find  a  use  for  it,"  remarked 
the  other,  with  a  smile. 

"  What  God  has  parted  cannot  be  reunited," 
said  Ralph,  coldly. 

"  But  you  loved  her,  did  you  not  ?  and  love, 
if  all  reports  be  true,  is  stronger  than  death. 
Will  you  test  the  proverb  ?  " 


The  Professor's  Sister.  159 

"  Xo ;  not  even  if  I  knew  that  love  could 
work  the  miracle.  She  and  I  will  meet  here- 
after ;  hut  I  should  not  deserve  her  love  if,  for 
the  sake  of  comforting  my  few  years  of  earth, 
I  called  her  hack  from  heaven." 

These  words  were  spoken  in  a  low  voice, 
weighted  with  emotion ;  and  as  he  spoke,  he 
turned  away. 

Conrad  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "That  is 
well  said,  Ralph,"  he  observed  ;  "but,  after  all, 
you  are  moralizing  over  what  you  believe  to  be 
an  impossibility.  If  you  were  convinced  that 
she  would  rise  up  at  your  word,  like  Lazarus 
in  the  New  Testament,  I  fancy  the  word  would 
not  be  wanting.  Well,  then,  since  love  refuses, 
let  us  see  what  science  can  do  !  I  have  more 
faith  than  you,  though  this  is  an  experiment 
based,  hitherto,  upon  theory  alone." 

He  stepped  to  the  upper  corner  of  the  room 
and  touched  a  small  disk  embedded  there  ;  and 
immediately  there  followed  a  gentle  whispering 
sound  which  I  dimly  remembered,  and  the 
great  magnet  began  to  discharge  its  vital  en- 
ergy. The  invisible  current  swept  downwards 
on  the  peaceful  face  beneath  it ;  and  we,  who 
stood  apart,  felt  something  of  the  exhilarating 
coolness.  The  dried  leaves  of  the  roses  that 
were  heaped  along  the  sides  of  the  figure  were 
stirred ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  some  of 


160  The  Professor's  Sister. 

them  lost  their  dryness,  and  that  their  original 
softness  and  color  came  back  to  them. 

Conrad  kept  his  strange  eyes  riveted  on  the 
face  in  the  coffer  with  an  intensity  of  gaze  that 
almost  seemed  to  emit  a  visible  ray.  [Ralph's 
eyes  were  downcast,  and  partly  averted  ;  but 
he  was  evidently  struggling  against  a  terrible 
attraction  ;  the  tender,  human  instincts  of  his 
nature  were  fighting  against  the  barrier  of 
principle  and  reason.  Time  both  flies  and 
stands  still  at  such  junctures ;  the  great  mag- 
net vibrated ;  and  now  it  was  beyond  doubt 
that  some  of  the  petals  of  the  roses  were  as 
fresh  as  when  first  shaken  from  the  stem.  But 
the  peaceful  face  was  peaceful  and  unresponsive 
still. 

Those  moments  of  suspense  were  exhaust- 
ing, even  to  me,  who  was  but  an  onlooker.  The 
possibility  that  hung  in  the  balance  was  of 
such  gigantic  significance — the  very  meaning 
of  human  existence  seeming  to  hinge  upon  it — 
that  the  mind  shrank  from  contemplating  it. 
And  now  that  the  experiment  had  gone  so  far, 
success  and  failure  appeared  alike  terrible. 

Suddenly  Conrad  raised  both  his  arms,  with 
the  hands  open  and  prone,  and  brought  them 
downwards,  and  then  again  upwards,  with  a 
slow,  sweeping  movement.  He  was  standing 
near  the  foot  of  the  coffer,  so  that  the  gesture 


The  Professors  Sister.  161 

was  as  if  he  had  caught  some  invisible  sub- 
stance in  the  air,  and  driven  it  over  the  dead 
girl,  from  her  feet  to  her  head.  He  repeated 
this  gesture  three  times  ;  and  at  the  same  mo- 
ment the  discharge  from  the  magnet  ceased, 
the  rushing  sound  was  heard  no  more,  and  the 
chamber  became  as  still  as  an  Egyptian  tomb 
in  the  heart  of  a  hill. 

Conrad's  arms  fell  to  his  sides ;  he  shivered, 
and  a  grayish  pallor  crept  over  his  features,  in 
which  appeared  lines  that  made  him  look  like 
an  old  man.  The  experiment,  then,  had  failed. 

Ralph  raised  his  head  and  looked  sternly 
and  scornfully  at  him.  "  You  yourself  deserve 
to  die,"  he  said;  "but  you  have  dragged  me 
into  your  own  humiliation,  and  I  am  not  wor- 
thy to  inflict  your  punishment." 

Conrad  cast  a  haggard  glance  at  the  corpse. 

"  I  would  gladly  have  died  to  succeed,"  he 
muttered. 

"Be  thankful  that  you  did  not  succeed; 
what  are  you,  or  any  man,  to  turn  law  into 
chaos,  and  gain  a  victory  over  Nature ! " 

But,  all  in  an  instant,  an  electric  shock 
seemed  to  run  through  Conrad,  and  set  his  soul 
on  fire.  An  awful  ecstasy  of  triumph  glared 
out  of  his  face.  His  hair  bristled  on  his  head, 
and  he  gnashed  his  teeth  together. 

"  See  !  see  !  "  he  shrieked,  tossing  his  arms 


162  The  Professor's  Sister. 

alof fc  and  stamping  his  feet  on  the  floor.  "  I 
have  not  failed  !  She  lives  !  she  lives  !  Ha  ! 
ha  !  ha  !  Ralph — Ralph  Merlin  !  Whose  is 
the  victory  now  !  " 

Ralph  stepped  forward,  and  Lent  a  long  look 
into  the  coffer.  Then  he  grasped  Conrad  with 
hands  of  iron. 

"  Hush  !  hush  !  "  he  said,  in  a  deep  voice. 
"  If  God  has  permitted  this  thing,  let  us  meet 
it  with  reverence  ;  it  may  mean  the  greatest 
blessing,  or  the  greatest  curse,  of  time  !  " 

And  even  as  he  spoke,  Hildegarde  opened 
her  eyes,  and  sat  erect.  She  seemed  per- 
plexed ;  but,  meeting  Ralph's  eyes,  she  smiled 
as  if  reassured. 


The  Professor's  Sister.  163 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OX    ONE    CONDITION. 

THE  emotion  of  wonder  is  one  of  the  most 
vehement  of  all ;  and  it  is  also  one  of  the  most 
transitory.  Imagination  revels  in  it,  but  the 
mind  cannot  tolerate  it;  and  no  sooner  has  a 
marvel  taken  place,  than  we  compel  it,  willy- 
nilly,  into  some  sort  of  accordance  with  the 
routine  of  experience.  If  we  could  not  do  this, 
we  should  probably  lose  our  reason  altogether. 
Nature  abhors  not  a  vacuum  more  than  does 
human  nature  a  miracle. 

That  first  sharp  stab  of  amazement,  when  my 
eyes  saw  her  who  had  lain  dead  for  two  years 
return  to  life,  lasted  but  a  few  blind  moments. 
It  took  but  those  few  moments  for  me  to  raise 
and  readjust  my  whole  conception  of  law  and 
order.  Law  and  order  still  existed,  and  were 
as  immutable  as  ever ;  it  was  my  view  of  them 
that  had  changed.  By  the  time  Hildegarde 
had  gained  her  feet,  and  had  uttered  the  first 
few  words  of  her  new  life.,  I  had  accommodated 


164  The  Professor's  Sister. 

myself  to  the  situation,  and  nothing  remained 
but  the  agreeable  excitement  of  an  interesting 
novelty. 

Of  course  other  elements  entered  into  the 
emotions  of  Ralph  and  Conrad,  to  whom  the 
event  was  quite  as  much  personal  as  general  in 
its  bearings.  But  it  was  at  once  perceived  by 
all  of  us  that  Hildegarde  must  be  introduced 
only  by  the  most  circumspect  degrees  to  the 
knowledge  of  what  had  befallen  her  ;  and  for  a 
while  we  were  sufficiently  occupied  in  parrying 
her  questions  and  managing  her  curiosity. 
She  remembered  having  been  taken  suddenly 
ill ;  she  recalled  a  darkened  room  and  the 
hushed  voice  of  nurses ;  and  the  last  circum- 
stance in  her  recollection  was  of  Conrad's  say- 
ing to  her,  "  Now,  I  will  put  you  to  sleep." 
He  had  several  times  exercised  this  power  over 
her,  and  she  had  soon  felt  herself  succumbing 
to  the  influence.  The  rest  was  a  blank.  But 
how  had  she  got  into  that  box  ?  what  were  the 
rose-leaves  there  for  ?  and  how  happened  it 
that  Ralph,  in  the  space  of  a  few  hours,  had 
contrived  to  grow  a  beard  and  to  get  gray 
hairs  ?  These  things  required  explanation ; 
and  who  was  to  explain  them  ? 

"  That  was  a  good  sleep  you  gave  me,  Con- 
rad," she  remarked.  "  I  was  very  ill  before  ; 
I  thought  I  might  be  going  to  die  ;  but  now  I 


The  Professor's  Sister.  165 

am  better  and  stronger  than  I  ever  was  ;  and 
all  in  such  a  little  while  !  " 

What  is  a  little  while  ?  What  a  thing  time 
is,  to  be  sure  ! 

It  was  moving  to  observe  Ralph's  profound 
preoccupation  with  her, — his  tremulous,  almost 
speechless  emotion, — and  her  happy  uncon- 
sciousness of  anything  stranger  than  his  beard. 
No  shadow  remained  on  her  inind  of  the  great 
gulf  which  she  had  crossed,  and  crossed  again. 
She  had  brought  with  her  no  tidings  of  the 
other  world ;  and  yet  she  had  been  there,  and 
had  experienced  what  no  other  human  being 
had  done. 

Conrad  had  drawn  Ralph  aside,  and  con- 
versed with  him  a  few  minutes  ;  and  then  he 
beckoned  to  me,  and  I  followed  him  out  of  the 
room. 

We  may  as  well  leave  the  lovers  to  explain 
themselves  to  each  other,"  he  said.  He  had 
quite  recovered  from  the  wild  burst  of  excite- 
ment with  which  he  had  greeted  the  success  of 
his  experiment,  just  when  all  had  seemed  to  be 
lost.  "  I  may  as  well  tell  you,"  he  went  on, 
tl  that  I  have  made  all  arrangements  to  have 
them  married  this  evening.  There  are  several 
reasons  for  this,  and  at  all  events  their  be- 
trothal has  lasted  quite  long  enough.  The 
guests  will  be  here  in  a  few  minutes.  To 


166  The  Professor's  Sister. 

avoid  complications,  I  have  invited  only  such 
persons  as  are  unacquainted  with  the  peculiar 
circumstances,  and  have  heard  nothing  of  my 
sister's  reputed  death." 

"  Did  she  die,  indeed  ?  "  I  asked. 

"Really,  my  dear  fellow,  I  can  hardly  tell 
you.  According  to  all  precedent  she  did.  But 
you  shall  hear  just  how  the  matter  stands. 
Catalina,  as  you  have  no  doubt  surmised,  under 
cover  of  scientific  curiosity,  visited  Burlace  in 
his  laboratory,  and  secured  some  of  the  micro- 
scopic germs  that  he  was  investigating.  Noth- 
ing is  easier  than  to  administer  these  germs  in 
the  food  or  drink  ;  and  neither  the  victim  nor 
the  physician  can  prove  that  a  crime  has  been 
committed;  a  disease  has  established  itself, 
and  it  runs  its  course,  which,  in  this  instance, 
was  bound  to  be  fatal ;  but  there  is  no  trace  of 
murder  outside  the  mind  of  the  murderer. 

"After  making  trial  of  all  recognized  means 
of  combatting  the  disease,  I  saw  that  the  girl 
must  die.  Then  I  resolved  to  put  to  the  test  a 
theory  which  1  had  speculated  upon  long  be- 
fore. I  waited  until  she  was  almost  in  the  act 
of  death ;  another  ten  minutes  would  have 
seen  the  end.  I  had  magnetized  her  several 
times  previously,  both  to  relieve  small  ailments 
to  which  she  was  occasionally  subject,  and 
also,  now  and  then,  for  certain  purposes  of  my 
own.  Therefore  she  was  completely  under 


The  Professor's  Sister.  167 

what  is  called  my  magnetic  control.  I  put  forth 
the  influence,  and  though  there  was  more  re- 
sistance on  her  part  than  I  had  expected  to 
find,  she  yielded  at  last,  and  fell  into  the 
trance. 

"I  argued  that  as  long  as  she  remained  in 
this  condition — which,  to  one  unfamiliar  with 
its  peculiar  symptoms,  is  indistinguishable 
from  death — the  action  of  the  poison  on  her 
system  would  be  arrested.  And  not  only  might 
it  be  arrested ;  it  might,  after  a  certain  lapse 
of  time,  disappear  altogether,  the  germs  them- 
selves becoming  devoid  of  life.  As  to  this 
last,  however,  I  was  probably  mistaken.  My 
subsequent  study  of  the  germs  tends  to  show 
that  they  are  practically  indestructible,  once 
they  have  got  a  lodgment  in  the  body.  But 
be  that  as  it  may,  I  was  perfectly  successful  in 
the  other  matter.  The  progress  of  the  disease 
stopped  short  at  the  instant  she  fell  into  the 
trance  ;  and  it  has  remained  inactive  from  that 
day  to  this." 

"You  have  kept  her  in  a  trance  for  two 
years  ?  " 

"  Certainly ;  and  she  might  have  continued 
so  indefinitely.  Meanwhile,  she  was  pro- 
nounced dead ;  her  body  was  put  in  the  coffin, 
and  her  funera\  was  duly  solemnized.  A  few 
weeks  later,  without  attracting  any  attention, 


168  The  Professor's  Sister. 

I  had  her  conveyed  to  my  rooms,  and  placed 
her  in  the  coffer  where  you  saw  her  to  day. 
She  has  lain  there  ever  since.  You  saw  what 
occurred  this  evening.  And  that,  in  brief,  is 
the  history  of  the  case." 

It  was  a  strange  history  ;  but  it  seemed  to 
me  that  the  strangest  features  of  it  had  been 
omitted,  and  that  Conrad  was  designedly  slur- 
ring over  these  features.  What  about  the  ap- 
parition that  I  had  seen  emerge  from  behind 
the  black  curtain  in  the  pentagonal  chamber  ? 
And  what  of  those  visitations  which  had  guided 
Ralph  from  the  centre  of  Africa  round  the 
world  ?  Nor  was  I  by  any  means  satisfied 
that  an  ordinary  trance  would  present  the 
same  characteristics  as  this  of  Hildegarde's. 
The  body  would  dry  up  and  perish  in  much 
less  time  than  two  years. 

When  I  questioned  Conrad  on  these  points, 
he  answered  somewhat  evasively. 

"  The  phenomena  you  speak  of  were  proba- 
bly entirely  imaginary,"  he  said.  "At  all 
events,  how  can  there  be  any  connection  be- 
tween them  and  the  experiment  I  was  describ- 
ing  ?  » 

"  I  don't  know  what  the  connection  is,  but 
there  is  one  ;  and  I  believe  that  it  was  of  your 
making.  I  have  not  forgotten  Schandau." 

"You  must  bear  in  mind  that  very  little  is 


The  Professor's  Sister.  169 

understood  of  the  real  nature  of  trance,"  he 
finally  remarked.  "  The  body  is  wholly  quies- 
cent, but  the  spirit  and  the  principles  interme- 
diate between  that  and  the  body  may  possess  a 
greater  freedom  and  activity  than  before. 
Nothing  would  be  dispersed  or  dissipated,  as  is 
the  case  in  actual  death ;  but  a  being  would 
exist  in  the  astral  light,  possessing  some  qual- 
ities nearly  allied  to  the  physical,  and  yet 
capable  of  passing  from  place  to  place  with  the 
rapidity  and  docility  of  thought.  Now,  there 
seems  to  be  a  special  relation  between  the 
trance-being  and  the  will  or  thoughts  of  the 
magnetizer.  Possibly  it  retains  no  will  of 
its  own,  or  but  little.  In  that  case  it 
would  be  in  a  measure  subject  to  the  will 
and  thought  of  the  magnetizer,  when  strong- 
ly concentrated  and  exerted,  and  would  be 
present  in  any  place  on  \  hich  his  attention 
was  fixed.  But  really,  the  whole  question  is 
so  obscure  that  I  am  perplexed  about  it  my- 
self. As  to  the  condition  of  the  body  after  so 
long  a  lapse  of  time,  I  may  fairly  take  some 
credit  to  myself  for  it,"  he  added,  with  a  smile. 
That  affair  of  the  magnet  and  pentagon  is  an 
invention,  or  at  least  an  adaptation,  of  my  own. 
Some  elements  enter  into  its  construction  that 
do  not  appear  on  the  surface ;  and  you  have 
felt  as  well  as  seen  something  of  its  powers.  Of 


170  The  Professor's  Sister. 

course  it  was  not  that  that  restored  Hildegarde 
to  life, — or,  if  you  prefer  it,  roused  her  from 
her  trance.  Its  effect  was  physical  merely  ;  it 
refreshed  the  body,  and  prepared  it  for  its  in- 
habitant. It  was  by  reversing  the  passes  that 
had  entranced  her,  that  I  succeeded  in  bring- 
ing her  round, — though  I  confess  there  was  a 
moment  when  I  felt  a  trifle  uneasy  over  the 
result." 

"  I  fancied  you  looked  a  little  bit  put  out 
just  then ;  though  I  thought  you  seemed 
pleased  just  afterwards.  But  there  is  one 
thing  about  this  business,  Conrad,"  I  added, 
dropping  the  ironic  vein,  "that  seems  to  me 
to  counterbalance  all  you  have  gained.  The 
germs  of  the  poison,  you  say,  cannot  be  de- 
stroyed. If  that  be  so,  Hildegarde  has  only  a 
reprieve.  The  return  of  life  will  be  to  her  but 
a  return  of  death,  and  the  more  tragic  because 
it  is  a  return.  In  how  many  days,  or  hours, 
this  will  come  to  pass,  you  probably  know  bet- 
ter than  I ;  but  if  you  have  not  provided 
against  it,  I  den't  know  why  you  are  not  a 
worse  murderer  than  Catalina." 

"  I  have  had  it  under  consideration  con- 
stantly almost  since  the  first,"  he  returned, 
rather  gloomily  ;  and  though  I  have  not  quite 
cleared  up  the  difficulty,  yet,  I  have  at  least 
ensured  the  prolongation  of  Hildegarde's  life 


The  Professor's  Sister.  171 

indefinitely, — provided  that  she  observes  cer- 
tain easy  conditions." 

"  What  are  they  ?  " 

"They  involve  only  her  remaining  always 
within  a  few  hours'  journey  of  this  place.  The 
poison  in  her  system  is  not  likely  to  be  quies- 
cent more  than  two  or  three  days  ;  and  as  soon 
as  it  begins  to  act,  she  must  again  be  thrown 
into  the  trance,  and  afterwards  subjected  to  the 
influence  of  the  great  magnet.  This  treatment 
is  indispensable,  and  it  will  probably  have  to 
be  repeated  at  regular  intervals.  But  the  an- 
noyance is  slight,  and,  in  view  of  the  result,  I 
don't  imagine  that  either  she  or  Ralph  will  ob- 
ject. And  now,'7  he  broke  off,  "  our  guests  are 
beginning  to  arrive.  The  clergyman  will  be 
here  immediately,  and  I  must  prepare  the  lov- 
ers for  the  happiness  in  store  for  them." 

He  went  out,  and  left  me  to  my  meditations, 
which  were  not  of  an  entirely  roseate  hue.  I 
had  acquired  the  impression  that  Conrad  had 
some  ulterior  end  in  view  in  all  this,  which  was 
not  of  a  wholly  unselfish  character,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  the  necessity  of  constantly 
renewing  Hildegarde's  vitality,  and  of  subject- 
ing her  at  such  short  intervals  to  the  absolute 
control  of  her  brother,  might  prove  more  irk- 
some than  he  seemed  to  anticipate.  But  I 
tried  to  hope  for  the  best. 


172  The  Professor's  Sister. 

In  the  drawing-room  several  persons  were 
already  assembled.  I  had  met  none  of  them 
before,  and  it  was  evident  that  they  had 
been  summoned  chiefly  to  act  as  witnesses  of 
what  was  about  to  take  place.  Conrad  entered, 
escorting  the  clergyman,  a  youngish  man,  with 
an  amiable  and  feeble  face.  A  lawyer  was  also 
in  attendance  to  oversee  the  preparation  and 
signing  of  the  marriage  contract.  Finally 
Ralph  came  in,  with  Hildegarde  on  his  arm. 

I  presume  that  Hildegarde  had  by  this  time 
been  made  acquainted  with  the  facts  of  her 
condition.  Her  face,  always  extremely  sensi- 
tive in  reflecting  the  states  of  her  spirit,  wore 
an  expression  of  wistful  solemnity,  tempered 
with  the  tenderness  of  an  exalted  love,  that 
somehow  brought  tears  to  my  eyes.  Ralph,  on 
the  other  hand,  had  a  look  about  him  that  was 
quite  new  to  me,  and  that  I  did  not  altogether 
like.  The  color  in  his  face  was  warm,  and  his 
eyes  lively  and  bright ;  a  smile  hovered  con- 
stantly about  his  mouth,  and  he  kept  looking 
at  Hilde garde  with  glances  that  were  not 
merely  lover-like,  but  idolatrous,  and  even 
seemed  to  express  a  sensuousness  of  feeling 
that  was  out  of  keeping  with  my  friend's  depth 
and  gravity  of  character  He  rather  avoided 
my  eye,  and  when  I  congratulated  him,  he 
said,  "We  owe  everything  to  Conrad.  Science 


The  Professor's  Sister.  173 

and  humanity  ought  to  unite  in  canonizing 
that  man.  I  can  never  excuse  myself  for  the 
way  in  which  I  spoke  to  him  to-day.  But  I 
see  the  error  of  my  way,  and  am  not  likely  to 
make  such  an  ass  of  myself  again.  Is  not  the 
mere  flesh  and  blood  of  such  a  woman  as  that 
worth  a  thousand  souls  ?  " 

"Is  she  immortal  ?  "  returned  I. 

"  What  is  immortality  ?  "  said  he,  with  a 
short  laugh.  "We  know  what  is,  but  who 
can  tell  what  may  be  ?  " 

The  clergyman  advanced  ;  the  couple  took 
their  places  beside  each  other ;  the  guests 
gathered  round,  and  the  words  of  the  covenant 
were  uttered.  Conrad  stood  behind  the  bride, 
and  as  the  ceremony  ended  his  figure  seemed 
to  grow  taller  and  dilate,  as  if  some  long-de- 
sired triumph  had  at  last  been  won.  What 
was  the  meaning  of  it  ? 

The  papers  remained  to  be  signed.  Ralph 
wrote  his  name  first.  Then  Hildegarde  took 
the  pen  in  her  hand.  As  she  laid  it  down 
again,  having  affixed  her  signature,  the  door 
at  the  end  of  the  room  opened,  and  Catalina 
entered. 


174  The  Professors  Sister. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MARRIAGE. 

HER  appearance  was  entirely  unexpected  by 
everybody  save  Conrad  ;  his  face  at  once  took 
on  an  expression  of  malicious  satisfaction.  And 
in  a  moment  I  realized  the  whole  significance 
of  the  event.  He  had  inflicted  upon  this 
woman  a  revenge  as  ingenious  as  it  was  over- 
whelming. 

Having  first  convinced  her  of  Hildegarde's 
death,  at  the  same  time  leading  her  to  suppose 
that  he  was  wholly  unsuspicious  of  her  agency 
in  it,  he  had  put  her  in  a  position  where  she 
fancied  herself  free  to  marry  without  prejudice 
to  the  terms  of  her  husband's  will.  The  mo- 
tives that  induced  her  to  yield  to  Burlace's 
suit,  though  l9ve  could  scarcely  have  been  one 
of  them,  were  still  urgent  enough  to  make  the 
act  comprehensible.  But  it  was  not  a  part  of 
Conrad's  scheme  to  permit  her  to  profit  by 
Burlace's  protection.  Whether  he  had  any 
hand  in  the  mysterious  occurrences  that  kept 
them  apart,  and  what,  precisely,  those  occur- 


The  Professor's  /Sister.  175 

rences  were,  you  can  probably  conjecture  as 
easily  as  I. 

But  Hlldegarde  was  not  dead;  she  was 
alive ;  and  she  was  not  separated  forever  from 
Ralph  ;  she  was  his  wife.  Therefore,  not  only 
was  Catalina  deprived  of  her  fortune  and 
thrown  helpless  on  the  world,  but  she  was  com- 
pelled to  behold  her  rival's  triumph  and  felicity, 
which  she  had  staked  and  lost  her  own  salva- 
tion to  prevent. 

She  did  not  at  first  see  Hildegarde,  and  Con- 
rad immediately  stepped  forward  to  greet  her 
with  a  great  manifestation  of  cordiality.  He 
held  her  in  conversation  for  a  few  minutes,  and 
then  led  her  up  the  room,  saying,  in  a  voice 
that  all  might  hear : 

"  Ralph,  and  Mrs.  Merlin,  our  celebration 
would  have  been  incomplete  if  my  step-mother 
had  not  kindly  consented  to  come  and  offer  you 
her  congratulations." 

Catalina  stopped  short,  as  if  she  had  run 
against  a  wall  in  the  dark.  Her  black  eyes 
wavered  for  a  moment,  but  finally  fixed  them- 
selves upon  Hildegarde  in  a  ghastly  stare.  Then, 
with  her  hands  outstretched,  she  drew  nearer, 
step  by  step.  Her  face,  though  beautiful  still, 
was  awful  to  look  upon  at  that  crisis.  She  had 
not  passed  unscathed  through  these  two  years; 
there  were  lines  around  her  mouth  and  beneath 


176  The  Professor's  Sister. 

her  eyes  that  suggested  tortured  nerves,  and 
vain  attempts  to  drug  them  into  insensibility. 
And  these  traces  were  dreadfully  emphasized 
by  the  emotion  of  the  juncture. 

She  crept  toward  her  rival  as  if  controlled 
by  a  mixture  of  terror  and  desperate  curiosity. 
At  length,  when  within  arm's  reach,  she 
doubtfully  extended  one  hand,  until  the  trem- 
bling finger-tips  came  in  contact  with  Hilde- 
garde's  shoulder.  Probably  she  had  imagined 
that  the  girl  was  but  a  spectre,  and  would  van- 
ish at  a  touch.  Had  Conrad,  then,  made  this 
innocent  spirit  the  helpless  instrument  of  his 
malignity  ? 

But  when  Catalina  realized  that  here  was  no 
spectral  illusion,  but  actual  flesh  and  blood,  she 
emitted  a  sharp  breathing  sound  from  her 
throat,  and  fell  back  a  step,  pressing  her  hands 
against  her  temples.  Her  eyes  rolled  in  their 
sockets.  After  standing  so  for  a  while,  she  be- 
gan to  laugh  softly.  Oh,  surely  the  cruelest 
vengeance  might  have  been  sated  by  that  pite- 
ous spectacle'!  The  shock  and  bewilderment 
had  been  too  great  for  her  already  failing 
nerves,  and  she  was  going  mad  before  our 
eyes. 

The  deep  absorption  of  this  episode  had  kept 
our  attention  from  a  confused  nqise  outside  the 
door.  But  now  the  door  was  flung  open,  anc[ 


The  Professor's  Sister.  177 

a  heavily-built  man,  hatless,  with  disordered 
dress  and  flushed  face,  half  staggered  and  half 
stalked  into  the  room.  It  was  Will  Burlace, 
savage  with  drink,  and  with  a  passion  smoul- 
dering in  his  bloodshot  eyes  that  was  not  due 
to  drink  alone.  How  had  he  come  there  ?  He 
must  have  followed  me  secretly  from  London, 
his  morbid  suspicions  having  suggested  some 
new  plot  on  foot  against  him.  His  glance 
singled  out  Catalina  at  once,  and  Ralph  stand- 
ing near  her ;  and  it  was  plain  that  he  deemed 
his  suspicions  fully  justified. 

"  I  knew  where  I  should  find  you,  and  how  I 
should  find  you,"  he  said,  as  he  came  towards 
his  wife.  "You  thought  you  could  pull  the 
wool  over  my  eyes,  but  I'm  not  such  a  fool. 
I'll  settle  with  you  now.  You  wouldn't  give 
an  honest  man  your  heart,  but  I'll  cut  it  out  of 
your  white  body,  my  dear  ! " 

It  was  doing  Ralph  injustice ;  but  so  it  was, 
that  he  was  the  last  man  whom  I  expected  to 
see  step  forward  to  protect  Catalina.  And  yet 
he  was  the  only  one  who  would.  Burlace  had 
a  knife  in  his  hand.  Catalina  lacked  either 
the  intelligence  or  the  will  to  try  to  escape. 
Ealph  caught  the  wrist  of  Burlace's  right 
hand,  which  held  the  knife;  and  instantly 
they  were  engaged  in  a  desperate  struggle. 

It  recalled   to    my  memory   that    tussle   of 


178  The  Professor's  Sister. 

theirs,  years  ago ;  but  that  was  in  play,  and 
this  was  deadly  earnest.  Burlace,  besides  his 
superior  weight,  had  the  fury  of  his  jealous 
and  murderous  rage  to  enforce  him ;  Ralph 
seemed  to  me  somewhat  less  quick  and  supple 
than  of  yore,  and  twice  or  thrice  I  saw  him 
wince,  as  if  from  a  sharp  pain.  I  had  forgot 
the  assegai  wound  that  he  had  received  in 
Africa. 

Burlace  bore  him  back,  and  I  thought  he 
was  overcome.  But,  by  a  feint,  Ralph  threw 
him  off  his  balance ;  and  then,  in  a  flash,  the 
knife  flew  from  the  other's  hand ;  the  two 
whirled  round,  and  came  to  the  floor  with  a 
crash  that  shook  the  room.  Burlace  was  un- 
dermost, and  lie  lay  stunned.  Ralph  rose,  but 
painfully,  with  a  pallid  face,  and  pressing  his 
hand  against  his  side.  His  old  wound  had 
opened,  and  he  was  bleeding  internally. 


He  lay  in  great  suffering  all  that  night ;  and 
the  next  morning  it  was  evident  that  he  must 
die.  Hildegarde  did  not  leave  him,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  as  his  strength  failed,  she 
also  drooped  and  faded.  She  looked  thin  and 
frail,  and  her  flesh  was  almost  transparent. 
But  the  love  in  her  eyes  glowed  stronger  than 


The  Professor's  Sister.  179 

ever,  and  instead  of  grief,  she  appeared  to  be 
inspired  with  an  inward  spiritual  joy. 

Conrad  had  been  observing  her  critically; 
and  at  length  he  told  Ralph  plainly  that  the 
old  poison  had  already  recommenced  its  fatal 
work  on  her,  and  that  it  would  be  necessary  to 
apply  the  remedy  without  delay.  Ralph  took 
her  hand  in  his,  and  regarded  her  steadily. 
"  You  hear  what  your  brother  says  ?  "  he  said. 

"  All  is  well  with  us,"  she  replied  ;  "  I  want 
no  change." 

"But  your  life  depends  upon  it,  Hilde- 
garde." 

"  No — not  my  life,"  answered  she. 

"  All  that  I  have  done  has  been  for  you,  Hil- 
degarde  ! "  Conrad  exclaimed.  "  I  have  loved 
you,  I  have  avenged  you,  I  have  brought  you 
back  to  life.  Will  you  leave  me  now,  and  ren- 
der it  all  vain  ?  " 

"I  must  stay  with  my  husband,"  was  her 
reply. 

"  Let  it  be  so,  Conrad,"  said  Ralph,  at  last. 
"For  my  part,  I  am  well  content  with  this 
conclusion.  It  was  all  wrong — what  you  at- 
tempted, and  I  acquiesced  in.  Had  I  lived,  I 
should  have  lowered  myself,  and  perhaps  her 
also.  There  is  a  wisdom  and  kindness  greater 
than  any  we  know  of.  Our  little  efforts  to 
gain  power  and  wield  it — what  do  they  amount 


180  The  Professor's  Sister. 

to,  after  all  ?  The  worst  grief  that  Nature 
brings  us  is  not  very  grievous  j  but  we  have 
no  mercy  on  ourselves.'7 

"  You  are  a  fool !  "  said  Conrad  sullenly, 
turning  away. 

Kalph  and  Hildegarde  both  died  that  night. 
The  bodies  were  put  in  coffins,  and  left  in  the 
pentagonal  chamber.  But  when  the  bearers 
went  to  remove  them,  it  was  found  that  Hilde- 
garde's  coffin  contained  only  a  few  handf uls  of 
fragrant  white  dust.  At  first  I  suspected 
Conrad  of  some  subtle  practice,  but  I  have 
since  come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  was  a 
mistake.  When  Hildegarde's  soul  left  her 
body  for  its  final  flight,  nothing  remained  that 
could  know  corruption.  And  perhaps,  during 
her  long  trance,  influences  had  been  at  work 
which  rendered  her  apparent  recovery  little 
more  than  a  sort  of  mirage  of  physical  exist- 
ence, destined  to  endure  but  for  a  moment  and 
then  vanish  forever. 

But  does  she  not  live  still,  and  Kalph  with 
her  ?  I  would  rather  trust  her  faith  on  that 
point  than  take  my  cue  from  Conrad,  though 
he  is  now  one  of  the  leaders  of  European 
science. 

THE 


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PAINTERS  OF  THE  ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE. 

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LIFE   OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

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To  speafc  at  this  late  day  in  praise  of  Irving's  l  'Life  of  Washington  "  would  be  like 
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LES  MISERABLES. 

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"  Les  Miserables  "  is  universally  admitted  to  be  the  great  masterpiece  of  Victor  Hugo, 

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be  forgotten.    The  study  of  it  is  an  education. 

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IT  IS  THE  LAW. 

A  Story  of  Marriage  and  Divorce.  By  THOMAS  EDGAR  WILLSON.  12mo. 
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"  The  book  is  written  with  much  force  and  the  subject  is  presented  in  a  fearless  way  " 
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Francisco. 

"  The  book  is  not  suited  to  general  reading."— Republican  Journal,  Belfast. 

"  The  book  can  only  be  appreciated  by  being  read,  and  while  some  what  flashy,  is  not  a 
very  exaggerated  expose  of  the  matrimonial  law  as  now  observed."—  Columbia  Law  Times. 

"  The  book  professes  to  show  and  prove  that  in  New  York  a  man  can  have  as  many 
wives  as  he  chooses  to  support,"  &c.—  Woman's  Journal,  Boston. 

WOMAN  THE  STRONGER. 

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"  Full  of  clever  writing ;  np  to  the  average  novel."—  The  Globe. 

The  editor  of  iBelford's  says:  "  It  is  far  superior  to  many  of  the  so-called  novels  of  th 
day." 

MISS  VARIAN  OP  NEW  YORK. 

By  LAURA  DAINTREY,  author  of  "  Bros."    12mo.     Cloth,  $1.00.     Paper  50 

cents. 

This  is  the  Fifteenth  Edition  of  "Miss  Varian,"  a  fact  which  speaks  more  forcibly 
than  words  for  its  worth  and  interest  to  the  novel-reading  world. 

By  the  Author  of  "POEMS  OP  PASSION." 

"MAURINE,"  and   other    Poems. 

By  ELLA  WHEELER  WILCOX.      With  Photogravure  Portrait  of  the  Author. 

12mo.     Cloth.     Price  $1.00. 

"  Poems  of  Passion  "  sells  faster  than  any  other  book  of  poems  published.  "  Maurine" 
is  by  the  same  hand  and  brain.  The  poems  are  as  good  and  beautiful  as  those  in  her  other 
popular  work. 

STAR  DUST. 

A  Collection  of  Poems.  By  FANNIE  ISABEL  SHERRICK.  12  mo.  Cloth,  gilt 
$1.00. 

"These  Poems  show  great  originality  and  an  imagery  which  is  both  forcible  and 
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"  A  gifted  writer,  and  many  of  her  metrically  expressed  thoughts  will  have  an  enduring 
place  in  American  Literature."— Milwaukee,  Wisconsin. 

RENTS  IN  OUR  ROBES. 

By  MRS.  FRANK  LESLIE.    12mo.    Cloth,  $1.00.    Paper  covers,  50c. 

A  brillant  review  of  modern  society  and  manners,  by  one  of  their  most  noted  ex- 
ponents. Sparkling  sketches  and  essays  of  modern  life,  invested  with  all  the  charm  of 
wit,  raillery,  sentiment,  and  spontaneity  which  a  cuLured  woman  of  the  world  might  be 
expected  to  bestow  upon  such  a  subject.  "  Ren  s  in  Our  Robes  "  is  a  book  that  helps  no  less 
than  it  entertains  ;  and  perhaps  no  better  idei  of  its  charm  can  be  conveyed,  than  in  say- 
ing that  the  author  has  put  a  great  deal  of  herself  into  the  work. 

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OFF    THOUGHTS    ABOUT    LOVE,    WOMEN,    AND 
OTHER  THINGS. 

By  SAMUEL  ROCKWELL  REED,  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial-Gazette.  12mo. 
Cloth,  $1.00.  Paper,  50  cents. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  subjects  discussed  in  this  valuable  Book  of  Essays, 
by  one  of  the  best  writers  in  the  country:  ''Love  and  Marriage,"  "The  Raby  and 
the  Ballot/*  •*  Scientific— Spots  on  Domestic  Animals,"  "  The  Married  Man's  Liabili- 
ties," "  The  Women's  Movement,1'  "How  arid  When  to  Die,'  "Was  the  Creation  a 
Failure  ?"  "  Trial  by  Jury  a  Defeat  of  Justice,"  »'  Fishing  and  Morals,"  "  The  Converted 
Prize-JJlghter." 

THE  CREED  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 

Its  Foundations  Contrasted  with  its  Superstructure.  By  WM.  RATHBONE 
GREG,  author  of  "  Enigmas  of  Life,"  "Literary  and  Social  Judgments," 
etc.  12mo.  Cloth,  $1.25. 

SOCIALISM  AND  UTILITARIANISM. 

By  JOHN  STUART  MILL,  author  of  "Principles  of  Political  Economy,"  "  A 
System  cf  Logic,"  etc.,  etc.  12mo.  Cloth,  $1.25. 

FORTY  YEARS  ON  THE  RAIL. 

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trated. 12mo.  Cloth,  $1.00.  Paper  covers,  50c. 

"No  railroad  man  in  the  West  has  had  more  active  or  eventful  experiences  in 
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"  A  very  interesting  book."—  Wisconsin. 

"He  tells  it  all  in  a  very  chatty,  agreeable  style.1'— Official  Railway  Guide. 

POLITICAL  ORATORY  OF  EMERY  A.  STORRS, 

From  Lincoln  to  Garfield.  By  ISAAC  E.ADAMS.  12mo.  Cloth,  gilt  top,  $1.25. 
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not  only  valuable  for  their  matchless  eloquence,  but  as  a  rich  contribution  to  American 
history.  They  show  the  speaker  to  have  had  a  masterly  grasp  of  every  subject  he  und<  r- 
took  to  discuss.  Every  oration  is  rich  in  pointed  illustration,  full  of  important  declaration 
of  political  principles,  and  sparkling  throughout  with  genuine  wit.  It  will  be  fou  d  to  be 
an  invaluable  aid  to  those  who  are  called  upon  to  deliver  political  addresses.  Indeed,  no 
one  can  be  thoroughly  posted  on  the  stirring  political  events  of  the  last  twenty  yeara  with- 
out reading  Mr.  Storr's  orations. 

POEMS  OF  PASSION. 

By  ELLA  WHEELER,  author  of  "  Maurine"  and  other  poems.  (27th  edition.) 
The  most  salable  Book  of  Poems  published  this  century.  Small  12mo. 
Red  Cloth,  $1.00. 

No  book  during  the  last  t?n  years  has  created  so  genuine  a  sensation  as  "  Poems  rf 
Passion."  It  required  no  common  courage  to  write  so  boldly  and  so  plainly  of  the  great 
passion  of  love.  A  part  from  these  distinctive  poems,  the  volume  is  rich  in  exquisite  strains 
that  will  insure  Ella  Wheeler  a  permanent  place  among  American  poets. 

THE  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  SOCIETY  MAN. 

By  BLANCHE  CONSCIENCE.     12rno.    Cloth,  $1.25.    Illustrated. 

4 'The  Confessions  of  a  Society  Man"  can  hardly  be  called  a  book  for  youn<*  girl?, 
though  the  publishers*  prospectus  declares  it  to  be  free  of  one  immoral  word.  Also  it  is 
difficult  to  determine  whether  it  is  the  work  of  a  man  or  of  a  woman.  Rumor  has  it  that 
the  author  is  a  young  lawyer,  very  prominent  in  the  society  of  Philadelphia;  at  least,  the 
scene  is  laid  there  at  first,  and  later  on  vibrates  between  the  Quaker  City,  New  York, 
and  the  fashionable  summer  resorts.  Whoever  the  author  is  he  abandons  generalizations, 
and  confines  himself  strictly  to  facts.  He  goes  into  details  with  a  calm  composure  which 
simply  takes  away  one's  breath.  .  .  .  Bom  to  good  social  position,  wealthy,  educated 
partially  in  Europe,  good-looking,  well-dre?sed,  well-mannered,  and  utterly  giv^n  over 
to  frivolities,  he  is  the  familiar  type  of  the  reckless  man  of  society."— New  York  World. 

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EDEN. 

By  EDGAR  SALTUS,  author  of  "  The  Truth  about  Tristrem  Varick,"  etc. 
Cloth,  $1.00.    Paper,  50  cents. 

In  this  novel  Mr.  Saltns  describes  an  episode  in  a  honeymoon.  The  plot  is  dramatic, 
the  action  nervous,  and  the  scene  Fifth  Avenue.  As  a  picture  of  contemporaneous  life  it 
will  be  condemned  by  every  lover  of  the  commonplace. 


A  NEW  "ROMANCE  OF  THE  19th  CENTURY," 

EROS. 

A  Novel.  By  LAURA  DAINTREY,  author  of  "  Miss  Varian,  of  New  York." 
12mo.  Cloth,  $1.00.  Paper,  50  cents.  Strong,  interesting,  and 
delightful. 

MARIE. 

A  Seaside  Episode.  By  J.  P.  RITTER,  Jr.  With  Illustrations  by  Coultaus. 
Cloth,  $1.00.  Paper  covers,  50  cents. 

In  this  poem,  the  author  tell*  an  interesting  love  story  in  an  exceedingly  bright, 
clever,  and  amusing  fashion,  that  reminds  one  a  good  deal  of  Byron's  "  Beppo."  Inciden- 
tally, he  patirizes  society  in  a  light  vein  of  humor,  and  in  a  style  that  is  graceful  and  epi- 
grammatic. The  volume  contains  over  forty  illustrations,  and  is  an  admirable  specimen  of 
the  bookmaker's  art. 


A  NEW  AND  EXTRAORDINARY  STUDY  OF  HUMAN  NATURE. 

THE  ROMANCE  OF  A  QUIET  WATEEINa  PLAGE. 

Being  the  unpremeditated  Confessions  of  a  not  altogether  frivolous  girl  (ex- 
tracted from  the  private  correspondence  of  Miss  Evelyn  J.  Dwyer).  By 
NORA  HELEN  WARDDEL.  12mo.  Cloth,  $1.00.  Paper  covers,  50  cents. 
Thirty  beautiful  Illustrations  by  Graves. 

"  The  story  is  very  readable."— .V.  Y.  Sun. 

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Hartford  Courant. 

"  No  American  novel  has  been  so  beautifully  illustrated.  •  *  *  An  original  work, 
bracing  and  piquant  as  Worcestershire  sauce  or  a  bottle  of  thirty  years  old  sherry."—  The 
Argus,  Baltimore. 

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HIS  WAY  AND  HER  WILL. 

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" A  remarkably  clever  book."— The  American  Bookseller. 
"  One  of  the  Brightest  of  this  season's  novels."— East  End  Bulletin. 
"Better  than  the  average  " — N.  Y,  Sun. 
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KISSES  OP  PATE. 

By  B.  HERON-ALLEN.     12rao.     Cloth,  $1.00.    Paper  covers,  50  cents. 

Three  hundred  pages  of  as  delightful  reading  as  we  have  ever  published.  Julian  Haw- 
thorne compliments  Mr.  Alien  as  being  the  ablest  of  the  many  young  writers  competing 
for  American  readers'  favor. 

A  SLAVE  OP  CIRCUMSTANCES. 

By  E.  DE  LANCEY  PIEBSON.     Cloth,  $1.00.    Paper  covers,  50  cents. 

"Is  a  new  and  high- wrought  society  novel  that  will  be  in  good  demand  for  summer 
reading."— .Boston  Commonwealth. 

"  The  book  is  as  novel  in  conception  and  plot  as  it  is  clever  in  execution  ;  and  will  be  a 
valuable  adjunct  to  a  spare  afternoon  at  the  beach."— Daily  Spray,  Ashbury  Park. 

"•  A  clever  story." — Buffalo  Express. 

THE  LONE  GRAVE  OP  THE  SHENANDOAH. 

ByDoNNPiATT.    12mo.    Cloth,  $1.00.     Paper,  50  cents. 

Donn  Piatt  never  wrote  an  uninteresting  line  in  his  long  life.  This  book  contains  his 
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man.  Any  man  with  such  a  vast  and  varied  experience  as  that  of  Col.  Piatt  could  have 
written  wonderfully  interesting  stories,  but  it  takes  genius  and  born  ability  to  write  tales 
as  delightful  as  these. 

A  DREAM  AND  A  FORGETTING. 

By  JULIAN  HAWTHORNE.     12mo.     Cloth,  $1.00.     Paper  covers,  50  cents. 

"  '  A  Dream  and  a  Forgetting '  will  put  the  author  on  a  higher  plane  than  he  his  yet 
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"  Mr  Hawthorne  is  to  be  congratulated  on  having  taken  a  decided  step  forward  in  his 
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TOM  BURTON. 

A  Story  of  the  days  of  '61.    By  N.  J.  W.  LE  CATO,  author  of  "  Aunt  Sally's 
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"  It  will  surely  interest  both  young  and  old."—  Times,  Boston. 

A  NOVEL   WITH  A  PLOT: 

THE  TEUTH  ABOUT  TEISTBEM  VAEICK. 

By  EDGAR  SALTUS,  author  of  "  Mr.  Incoul's  Misadventure,"  etc.    12mo. 
Cloth,  $1.00.     Paper,  50  cents. 

In  this  novel  Mr.  Saltus  has  treated  a  subject  hitherto  unexploited  in  fiction.  The 
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said,  "as  much  mu  I  in  the  upper  classes  as  in  the  lower  ;  only,  in  the  former  it  is  gilded.1' 
This  aphori  m  might  serve  as  epigraph  to  Tristrem  Varick. 

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